Honda has won its appeal on Marc Marquez’s long-lap penalty he received for hitting Miguel Oliveira in the Portuguese Grand Prix, the punishment now ruled as void.
Marquez received the penalty after slamming into the side of RNF Aprilia rider Oliveira in the opening stages of the Portuguese GP, though due to a wording error from the FIM stewards his penalty was only applicable for the following Argentinean GP – which the six-time premier class champion was forced to miss through injury.
Realising a mistake had been made in the wording of Marquez’s penalty, the stewards moved to change the ruling so that Marquez would have to take it at the next race he started, though his Honda outfit quickly appealed the changed punishment as it took issue with the way the wording had been modified on the fly.
The case was handled by the International Court of Appeal, which granted Marquez a so-called ‘stay of execution’ on the penalty until it had ruled upon it, which ultimately proved unneeded as he was forced to skip both the US GP at the Circuit of the Americas as well as the Spanish GP last time out.
The Court of Appeal has now ruled on Tuesday ahead of the French GP that the original wording of Marquez’s penalty should have been adhered to, making the modified ruling now void and meaning he will now not have to serve his long-lap punishment when he finally makes his competition return.
“Following the provisional decision of the MotoGP™ Court of Appeal pronounced on 12 April 2023 granting the stay of execution of the Application of the Sanction imposed on Marc Marquez, the Court still had to decide on the merits of the case considering inter alia the brief of appeal submitted by Marc Marquez and Team HRC – Repsol Honda Team on 17 April 2023,” began the International Court of Appeal’s statement on Marquez’s Portuguese penalty ruling.
“The Court decided to annul the Application of the Sanction imposed on Marc Marquez, which was issued by the FIM MotoGP™ Stewards Panel in connection with the Original Sanction.
“The Court considered that the Double Long Lap Penalty imposed on Marc Marquez by the FIM MotoGP™ Stewards Panel during the MotoGP™ Race of Portugal held on 26 March 2023 has been served by the non-participation of the Rider in the 2023 MotoGP™ Race of Argentina.
“Marc Marquez is hence allowed to compete in the next race in which he will be able to participate, without any further sanction.”
It is still currently unknown whether Marquez will make his MotoGP return this weekend’s Le Mans encounter, with news of his potential participation likely to come on Wednesday.
Marquez’s place within the factory Honda squad was filled by HRC test rider Stefan Bradl in Texas, while current Honda World Superbike Championship ace and ex Tech 3 premier class rider Iker Lecuona made his MotoGP comeback after he took over the RC213-V at Jerez last weekend.
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