Who had hypothesized this scenario, had seen long. The FIM Court of Appeal agreed with Honda and Marc Marquez and this means that in the end the eight-time world champion will not have to serve the double long lap penalty with which he was sanctioned after the accident with Miguel Oliveira in Portimao.
A sanction that the College of Commissioners had superficially inflicted on him, indicating that he would have to serve it at the Argentine Grand Prix, which was the next stage on the calendar. It’s a shame, however, that Marc missed the Termas de Rio Hondo race due to the fracture of his right thumb that kept him in the next three races.
This created a regulatory vacuum, because the regulation did not foresee the possibility that a driver could be injured for the race in which he was sanctioned. From here, the College of Commissioners tried to save himself for a corner, divulging a second note, in which he explained that it was understood that in reality the double long lap penalty would have to be served in the next match in which he would have lost part.
It was therefore Honda’s turn to go on the counterattack, presenting an appeal against a sanction that had been modified during the course of work, after being accepted and signed on Sunday in Portimao. A battle that in legal terms it was easy to hypothesize that he would have proved him right, because the levity of the marshals had been really heavy (not surprisingly, the wording in the provisions has changed since then, which speaks of the next race that the driver will compete in).
After a long wait and an initial passage from the FIM Appeal Board, as well as a temporary suspension of the sanction, the definitive sentence arrived today, which agrees with the Japanese manufacturer and the rider from Cervera, effectively accusing the stewards of the mistake of having indicated the GP of Argentina as the race in which he should have served the penalty.
Here is the press release released a few minutes ago by the International Federation:
“Following the interim decision of the MotoGP Court of Appeal, pronounced on 12 April 2023, granting the suspension of the execution of the Application of the Sanction imposed on Marc Marquez, the Court still had to decide on the merits of the case, considering among the The appeal brief presented by Marc Marquez and the HRC Team – Repsol Honda Team on 17 April 2023 is another.
“The Court has decided to cancel the application of the sanction imposed on Marc Marquez, issued by the FIM MotoGP Stewards in relation to the original sanction.”
“The Court considered that the double long lap penalty imposed on Marc Marquez by the FIM MotoGP Stewards during the Portuguese MotoGP race held on 26 March 2023 was served with the rider’s non-participation in the 2023 MotoGP race in Argentina”.
“Marc Marquez is therefore authorized to compete in the next race he can participate in, without further sanctions.”
Now, therefore, it only remains to be understood when Marquez will make his return astride the RC213V, given that at the moment the result of the CT scan he underwent today to decide whether he will be able to participate in the French GP of this end has not yet been announced week or less.
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