Factory Ducati MotoGP rider Enea Bastianini admits he elected to ignore his long lap penalty at the Catalan Grand Prix as he “didn’t agree” with the stewards’ decision.
The Italian was battling with Gresini’s Alex Marquez when he was forced wide at Turn 1, which meant he had to ride across the run-off area that cover the first corners.
But while riders are permitted to go through those segments of the track, the rules state that a competitor must lose at least a second in lap time to avoid punishment.
However, Bastianini did not comply with that regulation and was handed a long lap for his troubles, which was doubled when he opted to not take the original penalty.
Once again, though, Bastianini took matters into his own hands, resulting in him being given a ride-through and then a 32-second time drop for his repeated ignorance.
Bastianini would be demoted from ninth down to 18th in the classification and argued that he felt the stewards had been wrong to discipline him in the first incidence.
Asked if he didn’t see the initial notice, Bastianini told Autosport: “The dashboard was too clear. I didn’t agree with the dashboard.
“I overtook Alex on the straight and when we arrived on the brakes [into Turn 1] he braked later compared to me and that pushed me out onto the kerbs.
“For me it was impossible to remain on the brakes and the only solution was to cut the chicane. It was possible to come back, but where? On the kerb of Turn 2? No, impossible.
“Also, I have lost time because I followed the line of the long lap [to escape Turn 2]. I waited for the drop of position [order] for Alex, but then arrived the long lap penalty for me.
“I didn’t agree and I decided to continue without doing the long lap.
“I know it’s not the correct choice, but we had to do something because nothing has changed. Every race there is something to explain with the stewards and it’s not correct.”
Bastianini’s race lap times revealed he didn’t fall a second behind Marquez, as he lowered his efforts from 1:40.589 on Lap 11 to 1:31.078s when the incident occurred.
“Also, after the race I come with Davide [Tardozzi, team boss] to explain the problems and to see better the videos,” he added.
“For the stewards, at the start, the long lap penalty was correct. After, he said ‘Ok, no’.
“They saw the decision was wrong. I tried to get back my ninth position, but race direction can do nothing.
“Also, for the race direction I didn’t lose the [correct amount] of time when I entered back onto the track [at Turn 2]. I said ‘no, no, no, check the video better – I lost one second’.”
