Marquez given single penalty point

ROOKIE Marc Marquez has been given one penalty point for the incident involving team-mate Dani Pedrosa at the last MotoGP round in Aragon.

The incident involving the two Repsol Honda team-mates resulted in Pedrosa high-siding on the exit of turn 12 due to Marquez clipping a rear-wheel speed sensor cable with his left arm which disengaged the traction control. 

Although Marquez won at Aragon increasing his Championship lead, Honda have been deducted the full 25 constructors’ championship points they gained due to the lack of protection for the sensor cable. Technical Director Takeo Yokoyama confirmed suitable protection has now been applied to the sensor cable: “In terms of the hardware, the sensor cable was exposed too much and it was very easy – even with just small contact from others riders – to cut the cable. So we have now added protection to that cable for this race.” 

Both Marquez and Pedrosa plus representatives of Repsol Honda were included in the meeting with Race Direction at the Sepang circuit and after just over half an hour it was agreed that one single penalty point would be issued. Race Director Mark Webb explained: “We are sending a message to Marc, very clearly, that we understand that he is an extremely talented rider but he is also intelligent enough to understand that there has to be some margin for error – especially, as we have seen a number of times this year, under braking when the rider behind has the responsibility of not getting too close to the rider in front who is riding his own lines.

“Finally, we have had an incident in which Marc has been very close to another rider – close enough to make contact – when coming from behind under braking. For us, that is a signal (even though the contact itself was quite minor) to make a formal warning by way of a penalty point to Marc to say he has to take more care.”

Marquez is still 39-points ahead of Factory Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo who is currently second in the World Championship standings. However, the 20-year-old Spaniard now has three penalty points on his license and incurring one more penalty point will result in him automatically starting from the back of the grid.