FIM MotoGP Stewards announce penalty after Marc Marquez, di Giannantonio clash

Marc Marquez has been given a long lap penalty for causing the opening lap accident with Fabio di Giannantonio in Saturday’s COTA MotoGP Sprint.

The penalty deals a further blow to the reigning world champion’s hopes of claiming an eighth COTA MotoGP victory on Sunday.

Starting from pole, di Giannantonio lost ground after being pushed wide by Pedro Acosta at Turn 1.

The VR46 Ducati rider then swiftly re-passed Marquez for third place, but Marquez later said he was caught out by the slipstream of the riders ahead on the long back straight.

Diving under Diggia in the braking zone, the Italian gave Marquez room, but was taken down after the #93 lost control and fell.

The FIM Stewards' verdict confirmed that Marquez  “caused a crash, involving rider #49” and has a long lap penalty for his next grand prix race.

Even before the official announcement, Marquez accepted that he should be penalised for the incident.

Earlier in the day, Marco Bezzecchi and Luca Marini were each given two-place grid penalties for Sunday’s race after ‘riding slow online' and disturbing Marquez in qualifying.

That incident occurred at the same Turn 12 when Marquez later collided with di Giannantonio in the Sprint.

Bezzecchi crashed from second place late in the Sprint race, costing him the title lead to Aprilia team-mate and eventual winner Jorge Martin.