Marc Marquez will have to serve his penalty for ramming Miguel Oliveira at the Portuguese GP

Marc Marquez must comply with the sanction imposed by the commissioners of the International Motorcycling Federation (FIM) for causing an accident at the Portuguese GP last weekend, the opening event of the MotoGP World Championship in 2023. Poor writing had cast doubt on the applicability of the penalty if he did not serve during the Argentine GP, the next appointment of the event this weekend.

The attack on Miguel Oliveira (Aprilia) was a punishment of two long laps – a long lap that loses about two seconds compared to a normal one and which usually entails the loss of several positions in the race – for the Honda driver, who suffered a broken thumb in one hand in the accident and also caused a fracture in the a toe to Jorge Martin (Ducati). The eighth champion from Cervera, after the impact and injury, underwent emergency surgery that same Sunday in Madrid for a displaced intra-articular fracture of the base of the first metacarpal of the thumb of his right hand. After the operation, which went smoothly, the Repsol Honda team announced that the rider would be withdrawn from the test held at Termas de Rio Hondo.

The environment of the team and the pilot himself assumed, due to the fact that the sanction made its application explicit in the Argentine GP, that it could not be applied consequently to another future test. After the commotion generated by this slip in the wording – which was the same in all the equivalent penalties, except for two exceptions last season –, the commissioners sent a statement on Tuesday morning to clarify the sanction: “The panel of commissioners of the FIM MotoGP clarifies its decision in terms of applicability. Considering the injury and non-participation of Marc Marquez, driver #93, in the Argentine GP, and with the will to comply with the intention underlying the decision made by the panel of stewards, the double penalty long lap it must be served during the next MotoGP race in which the rider can participate”.

For now, the official Honda team does not plan to present allegations after the clarification, which sets a new precedent when transferring the applicability of these sanctions in the future. Neither Marquez nor his team have announced, after going through the operating room, when they hope to return to competition. The third round of the World Championship, the GP of the Americas, is scheduled for April 16 in Austin, Texas, where 93 has won seven times.

After a very eventful opening weekend of the new format, MotoGP will travel to the other side of the Atlantic with four confirmed casualties for the second round of the longest and most demanding calendar in history. Miguel Oliveira, after undergoing a new review at the hospital, was ruled out by his team and joins, also due to injury, the already confirmed casualties of Marquez, Pol Espargaro (GasGas) and Enea Bastianini (Ducati).

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