Fabio Quartararo will have to serve a long-lap penalty in August’s British Grand Prix after being penalised for his part in his clash with Aleix Espargaro in the Dutch TT.
The factory Yamaha rider dropped behind the Aprilia rider at the start of the Assen sprint after running wide at Turn 1 just after the start, and after getting his rhythm back looked to quickly dispatch his title rival and chase down leader Francesco Bagnaia.
The reigning world champion got a little too greedy at Turn 5 on the fifth tour though as he fired down the inside of Espargaro with a little too much momentum, resulting in a collision between the pair that saw Quartararo lose the front of his M1 and drag the RS-GP with him into the gravel trap on the outer extremity of the bend.
Quartararo later retired from the contest after seemingly running into problems with his traction control system as a by-product of the crash, while Espargaro put in a spirited charge back through the pack to take fourth having dropped as far as 15th by the time he escaped the gravel.
The stewards took a dim view of Quartararo’s move post-race though and have subsequently decided to award the series leader a long-lap punishment to be taken at the next round at Silverstone in six weeks time.
Quartararo’s series lead has been narrowed to 21 over Espargaro as a result of his retirement, the 11-time premier class race winner fortunately being cleared of any injury following the nasty high-side that ruled him out of the encounter for good.
