Marquez felt misled during Argentina grid incident
Marc Marquez insists he was given misleading instructions after stalling on the grid during MotoGP’s Argentine Grand Prix, and “couldn’t understand” why he was given a ride-through penalty.
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Marquez was at the centre of controversy after the Termas de Rio Hondo race, attracting attention from the stewards for collisions with Aleix Espargaro and Valentino Rossi – the latter of which drew harsh criticism from both Rossi himself and pundits alike.
It came as Marquez scythed his way back through the order after serving his penalty in the early laps, the result of him illegally returning to his grid slot after stalling his works Honda.
Explaining the sequence events to media afterwards however, the Spaniard said there was no marshal instructing him to leave the grid when he indicated he had stalled, and that he was later given the all-clear to start along with the rest of the pack.
“When I start to arrive on the grid and I have a problem with the engine and I stop, normally it never happens,” Marquez recalled. “In that case I put my hand up, but nobody was there.
“Then I started to push my bike. Luckily the bike runs and at that time I didn't know what I needed to do; I knew that if the bike was [not running] I need to go off [the grid], but the bike was running.
“When the marshal, I asked him, because he is connected directly with Race Direction and I ask him, ‘pitlane, or grid?’
“At that time he didn't know what's going on, and then I saw another guy – this marshal just put his hands out of my bike, and the other one made like this [gave a thumbs up], and just I understand that they start to go away and I understand that I need to go my grid place.
“Then I start the race, 'ride-through penalty' appears on the dashboard, something that I didn't understand, because if one marshal says you are allowed, why then in a few laps say you are not allowed and you need to have a ride-through?”
Honda team principal Alberto Puig backed up his rider’s version of events, while admitting the incident was the root of Marquez’s incident-strewn race.
The reigning champion finished fifth on the road after his collision with Rossi, but was classified 18th after being handed a 30-second time penalty.
“For sure, the rider acted on what he thought and what he believed,” said Puig. “When he was seeing that situation - you can imagine, when you're on the starting grid, and you have 20 riders behind with engines on, you want to be in the same position.
"So he went to his position because he thought the marshals were telling him to go there. And nobody could take him out from that position, so that was the starting point of not a very good race.”
Additional reporting by Oriol Puidgemont
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