MotoGP stewards reveal verdict on Fabio Quartararo’s Hungary sprint tangle

Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo will have to serve a long lap penalty in the MotoGP Hungarian Grand Prix following a stewards’ verdict on his sprint tangle.

The 2021 world champion scraped through to Q2 directly on Friday afternoon but was able to produce a strong qualifying in sixth on the factory Yamaha.

With overtaking predicted to be at a premium in the 13-lap sprint at the tight Balaton Park, track position after the first two corners was critical.

Fabio Quartararo tried to make up ground from sixth with an ambitious lunge up the inside of several riders into Turn 1.

But the Frenchman got out of shape and clattered into the rear of Enea Bastianini’s Tech3 KTM.

Quartararo was taken out on the spot, while Bastianini’s race would last just a few more corners before he collided with LCR Honda’s Johann Zarco later in the lap.

Aprilia’s Marco Bezzecchi, who started from second, also got caught up in the Quartararo incident and was forced to check up at Turn 1, which dropped him down to the fringes of the top 10.

He was only able to recover to seventh.

The FIM stewards placed the Quartararo incident under investigation and have deemed him to have “caused a dangerous situation and a contact involving rider No.23”.

As this was a first offence for the season, he has been issued with a long lap penalty to be served in Sunday’s Hungarian Grand Prix.

While a lenient punishment, the lack of overtaking opportunities makes the long lap at Balaton Park particularly costly.

Quartararo’s crash merely compounded a difficult day for Yamaha, whose top representative was Pramac’s Jack Miller in 12th and out of the points.

Miguel Oliveira was 14th, while Alex Rins was forced into avoiding action when Bastianini collided with Zarco and could do no better than 16th at the chequered flag.

Bastianini has been given a double long lap penalty for his incident with Zarco.