Valentino Rossi, Marc Marquez avoid punishment for Misano skirmish
There will be no punishment for either Valentino Rossi and Marc Marquez following their Misano San Marino MotoGP incident, the FIM confirms.
Valentino Rossi and Marc Marquez won’t face any further action over their skirmish during qualifying for the San Marino MotoGP at Misano after ultimately impeding one another.
Marquez is seen to be making a fast pass with little room for error on Rossi as he attempted to complete his fast final Q2 lap, though he’d end up running wide onto the run-off which would have had his time deleted anyway.
The Italian duly responded with a more aggressive block pass a few corners later – reminiscent of the pass that led to their controversial 2015 Malaysian MotoGP coming together - which led both to sit-up. The incident was subsequently put under investigation.
Watch the incident here:
Márquez passes Rossi
Rossi makes a move back on Márquez
Somehow they don't make contact
A dramatic moment during qualifying! #SanMarinoGP pic.twitter.com/nEhphykGvF— MotoGP on BT Sport (@btsportmotogp) September 14, 2019
Though Marquez argued Rossi had not been going ‘super-fast’ on the racing line, forcing him to make the move to complete his own lap unimpeded, the fact he ran wide onto the run-off means stewards opted against a penalty because neither gained a lasting advantage for their actions.
“Because the laps of both riders were cancelled due to both having exceeded track limits prior to the incident, no further action will be taken,' read an FIM statement.
Rossi and Marquez told reporters in Misano that neither had been aware their laps would be deleted anyway because of track limits - even if both claimed to see one another’s – which is why they continued to push into Turn 14 assuming the other would back off.
