MotoGP, Portugal, Marc Marquez recounts the meeting with the Stewards: “for me, it was an action very close to racing, but I remained neutral”

The collision between Marc Marquez and Francesco Bagnaia was one of the heated moments of the MotoGP Portuguese Grand Prix. An event naturally prone to generating controversy and tension, since Bagnaia is a Ducati factory rider and Marquez is part of the Gresini team, satellite of the brand... The Spaniard considers it a racing incident – ​​even if it’s borderline. According to him, the double world champion had a bad approach at this stage of the race, while the battle for fifth place was being played out. He tells how the explanation went within the college of sports commissioners.

Before that, when he was asked to Marc Marquez if he had spoken about the incident with the general manager of Ducati, Gigi Dall'Igna, he precised : " I don't speak with Ducati staff. But what's good is that they have telemetry and can see exactly what happened ". The 31-year-old rider said he “saw” the data from the two bikes, information he cannot make public because “ telemetry is private and is never shown », showing himself nevertheless convinced that this information worked in his favor.

However, he was also in the front row to assess the events and he made no secret of his feelings towards them: “ This was a mistake I didn't expect from Pecco ", surprised by the Italian's counterattack when he tried to overtake him in fifth place: " when Acosta passed him, Pecco suffered a lot with the tires. There were three laps left, we were fighting for fifth place... when you suffer so much with the tires, you know that if it's not in this corner, we will overtake you in the other. But hey, he wanted to overtake me a little too optimistically, at the limit of everything because we both ended up in the gravel. These are things that happen in races », summarized Marc Marquez.

Marc Marquez: “ Thank God I wasn't the one on the inside of the turn »

The pilot Gresini Racing team also gave details of what happened at the office of the College of Sporting Stewards: “ when the Stewards called me to Race Direction, I told them 'you decide'. For me, it is an action that is very close to racing. They have to decide whether this is penalized or not. They said no, I told them that my point of view would be neutral and that I would respect the decision, I wasn't going to push one way or the other.. Ultimately the consequence is zero points for me and Pecco, that's the last thing we both wanted ».

The eight-time world champion was asked if he thought Pecco Bagnaia would have reacted differently if another driver had overtaken him. He replied that he knew nothing about it and invited the Italian to be asked this question so that things would be clear. Then he concluded: “ I am very calm, respecting the times I need. This could happen to me in the next race, obviously. But hey, thank goodness in this one I wasn't the one on the inside of the turn ". Go now to Austin for a reunion MotoGP under Grand Prix of the Americas du April 12 to 14.