Marc Marquez has been slapped with a double long-lap penalty for the next weekend’s Argentinean Grand Prix for his part in the crash that took out Miguel Oliveira in Portimao.
The Honda rider had made a poor start from pole position and dropped to fourth on the opening lap of the Portuguese Grand Prix, though looked to make progress back into the rostrum positions by overtaking Pramac Ducati rider Jorge Martin at Turn 3 on the third lap of the 24-lap contest.
The six-time premier class world champion bit off more than he could chew though as he braked a little too late into the bend, clipping Martin’s Ducati before being launched directly into the side of second-placed Oliveira.
The frightening smash eliminated both on the spot, while Martin re-joined in 16th having been forced wide by the incident, with Oliveira fortunately escaping without injury while Marquez has picked up a suspected fractured metacarpal in his right hand, forcing him to head back to Spain for medical checks ahead of next weekend’s Argentinean GP.
Marquez was swiftly handed a double long-lap punishment should he take part at Termas de Rio Hondo for his part in the incident, a penalty he was more than prepared to accept as he apologised to Oliveira for his error in a post-race statement.
“First of all I want to say that I am very sorry to Oliveira, his team and the Portuguese fans because it was his race,” said Marquez.
“I did a really big mistake today, of course it was not my intention to have this happen, my intention was not even to overtake Martin at that point, but I had a massive lock with the front.
“Maybe the hard front was not fully up to temperature, I released the brakes and the bike went inside. I avoided Martin but made contact with Oliveira.
“I straight away went over to Miguel and then in the medical centre I went to check on him – fortunately it looks like he is OK and this is the most important thing.
“On my side I have some pain in my right hand and with my knee but this is not so important at the minute.
“I fully accept and respect the penalty of the double long-lap during the Argentina GP because I did a mistake.”
