‘The penalty was right’ - Marco Bezzecchi agreed with Brno MotoGP race ban

MotoGP championship leader Marco Bezzecchi says his ban from the Czech Grand Prix for hitting a marshal “was right” and “I accept everything”.

The Aprilia rider was forced to sit out last Sunday’s race at Brno after he hit a marshal following a crash in Saturday’s sprint.

Aprilia lodged an appeal against the ban, but this was ultimately rejected by the FIM stewards, with the Italian brand declining to take the matter any further.

The ban was costly for Marco Bezzecchi, who is now just eight points clear in the championship of team-mate Jorge Martin, while Marc Marquez is now just 40 behind.

Bezzecchi apologised in a statement last Sunday, while also sharing an embrace with the marshal ahead of warm-up.

Speaking about the incident publicly for the first time on Thursday at the Dutch Grand Prix, Bezzecchi said of his penalty:  “I completely understood.

“I think the penalty was right and I accept everything.

“I understood, and I tried to take this as an opportunity to be better as a person, but in general, I mean. At the end, I think it was okay.”

He once again apologised for his actions, while noting that he is “still feeling quite bad” about the incident.

“First of all, obviously, it was a hard weekend, but also these days are super hard,” he said.

“I want to take this chance to apologise one more time for my actions in Brno.

“It was a very bad gesture from me, and I didn't handle the situation in the proper way, so I felt very bad, and I'm still feeling quite bad.

“Not just for me, obviously, but for my team, for all the factory, for all the championships that didn't really deserve an image like this, but also for the marshal himself, who was already the one more involved in this situation.

“Of course, I just apologise one more time and try to move on and concentrate.”

‘I want to use it as a lesson’

Bezzecchi believes the ban will ultimately prove to be an “opportunity to grow” as a person, though admits missing the Czech Grand Prix was “not easy to accept”.

“Of course, it's a moment that I want to use it as a lesson, but I already had a lesson immediately when they told me the decision,” he added.

“This is why I think it was the correct one, and of course, it was not easy to accept.

“We are riders and we want to ride, but at the end it's like this.

“So, of course, it's an opportunity to grow and to try to improve in everything, in every aspect, also in terms of riding. So, yeah, it will be hopefully something that can really help me.”

Bezzecchi didn’t reveal any details of the incident when he spoke to the media after the sprint, but says now that he wanted to wait to get a penalty before going to the marshal to apologise as so it didn’t look insincere.

“I expected to get a sanction, of course, because at the end it's a gesture that you don't have to do,” he said.

“I also waited a bit to go to say sorry to the marshal because I didn't want to make the people think that going straight away to say sorry was a way to avoid the penalty.

“So, I waited until the penalty was confirmed to go there and say a sincere apology to him for my mistake.

“Of course, we spoke a bit, we cried both, and in a bad moment, it was a very beautiful moment for me where I took away a lot of weight from my body.

“But yeah, apart from this, I expected immediately to get a penalty. I didn't know which one but at the end it was that one [a ban] and it was okay.”