The Repsol Honda MotoGP outfit has announced that it will appeal the recent penalty afforded to Marc Marquez by the FIM stewards following his Portuguese Grand Prix incident.
The Spaniard was given a double long-lap penalty for the Argentinean GP after taking out Miguel Oliveira in Sunday’s Portuguese GP at the Algarve International Circuit, though likely wouldn’t have had to ever serve it due to him having to miss this weekend’s action as a result of sustaining a fractured right hand in the clash.
He would have escaped serving the punishment due to the FIM stewards specifically stating the penalty had to served in the Argentinean event rather than simply during the next race he took part in, an oversight the panel tried to correct as it posted an updated penalty notice on Monday stating Marquez would need to serve the penalty instead during the next encounter he began.
Honda has now elected to appeal this decision due to the “change of criteria on when the penalty should be applied”, the Japanese manufacturer releasing a statement on Wednesday afternoon in which it declares that it is keen to “defend its rights and legitimate interests, which it considers violated as a result of the resolution adopted.”
“In relation to the sanction imposed by the FIM on Marc Marquez for the race incident that occurred at the Portuguese Grand Prix, the Repsol Honda Team considers that the modification of the penalty consisted of a change of criteria on when the penalty should be applied,” began Honda’s statement.
“This modification was issued by the FIM two days after the initial sanction was final and definitive, is not in line with the current regulations of the FIM for the MotoGP World Championship.
“For this reason, the Repsol Honda Team intends to use all the means of recourse offered by the regulations in force to defend its rights and legitimate interests, which it considers violated as a result of the latest resolution adopted, and in particular has duly submitted an Appeal before the FIM Appeal Stewards.”
Marquez is currently working to return to action in the Americas GP in just over two weeks time, the six-time premier class champion one of four full-time riders set to be absent from the grid for this weekend’s Argentinean GP, with Oliveira, GasGas’ Pol Espargaro and Ducati’s Enea Bastianini also out of action through injury.
