There are some who start their weekend badly, and Pol Espargaro is one of them. At the end of the second free practice session, the technical stewards noted that he was using an engine which was not part of the 9 sealed power units.
The FIM MotoGP stewards therefore explained to Pol and KTM that this contravened article 2.4.3.3.4 of the “FIM World Championship Grand Prix Regulations” which provides that “If a competitor, for any reason (e.g. mechanical failure, damage caused by a fall, etc.) requires the use of another engine in addition to his allocation, the Technical Director must be informed prior to the use of the new engine, and the Race Direction will apply the appropriate penalty according to the Sporting Regulations (Article 1.21.20). The damaged engine will be removed from allocation and if used again it will be treated as a new engine with appropriate penalties. »
And what does the famous Article 1.21.20 say? That the sanction for infringement of article 2.4.3.3.4 (Engine durability in MotoGP and Moto3), when the infringement is noted before the race, is that the rider will start the race from the pit lane 5 seconds after the green light is on when exiting the pit lane.
Below is the exit from the pit lane of the Ricardo Tormo circuit in Valencia, then the tables of engine usage on Pol Espargaro's KTM after the Malaysian GP, and before that of Valencia:
#ValenciaGP MotoGP: Combined classification J.1
| 1 | 99 | Jorge LORENZO | Ducati | 1'30.640 | ||
| 2 | 26 | Dani PEDROSA | Honda | 1'30.762 | 0.122 | |
| 3 | 4 | Andrea DOVIZIOSO | Ducati | 1'30.949 | 0.309 | |
| 4 | 29 | Andrea IANNONE | Suzuki | 1'31.045 | 0.405 | |
| 5 | 5 | Johann ZARCO | Yamaha | 1'31.054 | 0.414 | |
| 6 | 93 | Marc MARQUEZ | Honda | 1'31.243 | 0.603 | |
| 7 | 43 | Jack MILLER | Honda | 1'31.357 | 0.717 | |
| 8 | 35 | Cal CRUTCHLOW | Honda | 1'31.383 | 0.743 | |
| 9 | 51 | Michele PIRRO | Ducati | 1'31.413 | 0.773 | |
| 10 | 44 | Pol ESPARGARO | KTM | 1'31.438 | 0.798 | |
| 11 | 46 | Valentino ROSSI | Yamaha | 1'31.488 | 0.848 | |
| 12 | 25 | Maverick VIÑALES | Yamaha | 1'31.624 | 0.984 | |
| 13 | 41 | Alex ESPARGARO | Aprilia | 1'31.698 | 1.058 | |
| 14 | 45 | Scott REDDING | Ducati | 1'31.733 | 1.093 | |
| 15 | 17 | Karel ABRAHAM | Ducati | 1'31.858 | 1.218 | |
| 16 | 42 | Alex RINS | Suzuki | 1'31.876 | 1.236 | |
| 17 | 36 | Mika KALLIO | KTM | 1'31.879 | 1.239 | |
| 18 | 8 | Hector BARBERA | Ducati | 1'31.926 | 1.286 | |
| 19 | 53 | Tito RABAT | Honda | 1'31.958 | 1.318 | |
| 20 | 9 | Danilo PETRUCCI | Ducati | 1'32.029 | 1.389 | |
| 21 | 19 | Alvaro BAUTISTA | Ducati | 1'32.076 | 1.436 | |
| 22 | 76 | Loris BAZ | Ducati | 1'32.151 | 1.511 | |
| 23 | 38 | Bradley Smith | KTM | 1'32.457 | 1.817 | |
| 24 | 22 | Sam LOWES | Aprilia | 1'32.587 | 1.947 | |
| 25 | 60 | Michael VAN DER MARK | Yamaha | 1'33.101 | 2.461 |
Photo credit: Gold and Goose for KTM and Dorna
