FIM Stewards announce verdicts on Spanish MotoGP clashes
FIM Stewards announce decisions on Zarco-Acosta, Zarco-Espargaro and Miller-Morbidelli clashes in the Spanish MotoGP race.
While damp patches accounted for all but one of the 15 accidents in the Saturday Sprint, Sunday’s Spanish MotoGP saw three sets of rider clashes placed under investigation by the FIM Stewards.
The verdict for all three has now been announced as ‘no further action’.
The first incident involved opening lap contact between Johann Zarco and Pedro Acosta, in which both stayed on board.
The FIM Stewards declared “The intention to penalise would have been a drop of one position for #5 [Zarco], but the Stewards having reviewed the footage decided that #5 corrected the matter himself by the following sector.”
The Frenchman was the victim of the second clash, being sent flying on lap 10 when his LCR Honda was struck by Aleix Espargaro’s Aprilia (pictured).
The Spaniard lost the front into Turn 5 after several heated back-and-forth passes between the pair over 16th place.
“After [a] hearing with both riders and after further review [this] was determined to be a race incident,” read a summary statement from the Stewards.
Another dramatic Turn 5 clash occurred 8 laps later when Franco Morbidelli fell and took out Jack Miller during an attempted overtake for eleventh.
The furious KTM rider then screamed at the Italian in the gravel trap. Espargaro also said he had been hit by Morbidelli ‘a couple of times’ earlier in the race.
Once again, the Stewards ruled: “After [a] hearing with both riders and after further review [this] was determined to be a race incident.”
As such, the only penalties handed out on Sunday was a double long lap for Augusto Fernandez due to an ‘incorrect starting location’ - which became a ride-through penalty after failing to complete the long laps within 5 laps of being notified.
