Jorge Martin has been hit with a Long Lap Penalty for irresponsible riding but keeps his podium from the Sprint race at the Austrian round of the MotoGP World Championship.
Martin finished third behind Francesco Bagnaia and Brad Binder but was at the centre of controversy following a first-lap pile-up at Turn 1.
The Pramac Ducati rider, who started from 12th on the grid, dived underneath Fabio Quartararo, shunting the Monster Energy Yamaha rider into Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales.
As a result of the impact, there was a knock-on effect in the crowded first corner, with Johann Zarco, Marco Bezzecchi and Miguel Oliveira all crashing out, while Quartararo, Viñales and Enea Bastianini were all badly hindered.
Martin was heavily criticised but it took some hours before FIM Stewards decided the incident warranted the Long Lap penalty, which Martin will serve in Sunday’s main race at the Red Bull Ring.
The Spaniard, though, retains his third place in the Sprint race and remains in second position in the standings, 46 points behind Bagnaia at round 10 of the championship.
The Stewards’ ruling declared: “Following the Penalty Protocols issued to teams, this action was deemed to be an incident of Type 3: Causing a crash whilst overtaking. Overly ambitious and/or aggressive resulting in another rider crashing. As a first offence for the season, the appropriate penalty in this case is a Long Lap Penalty.”
Martin was also involved in a second incident in the Sprint race when contact was made with VR46 Ducati’s Luca Marini, who crashed out after Martin’s overtake on Lap 7.
However, following an investigation, no further action was deemed necessary.
Speaking at the post-race press conference, Martin said he was not to blame for the Turn 1 pile-up.
“I was keeping a straight line and I feel like I was going to do the corner on the inside quite comfortably,” Martin explained.
“But then some riders on the outside closed a bit the lines and then Fabio closed on me.
“He lost a bit of control, so I think it was a combination of things. But I still think it was not my fault and I was doing a good line on the inside.”
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