Marco Bezzecchi responds to "angry" Raul Fernandez: "He touched me"

Marco Bezzecchi says he is sorry that Raul Fernandez is angry after their Turn 1 tangle in the Mandalika MotoGP Sprint, but insists “he touched me”.

Fernandez started from pole with Bezzecchi alongside. The Italian edged his RS-GP ahead off the line, but both were dive-bombed by the Ducatis of Marc Marquez and Fabio di Giannantonio in the braking zone for Turn 1.

When Marquez then lifted to avoid the back of di Giannantonio, Bezzecchi reacted likewise, but his movement took out Fernandez’s front wheel.

Both Aprilias went down, with Fernandez sarcastically clapping from the gravel trap.

“Just a racing incident,” Bezzecchi told the media, including Crash.net, at Mandalika.

“The start is a moment where we are all very close. Many times, it can happen that you have to adapt a little bit your line and it’s what I tried to do [to avoid Marquez].

“Then I had, unfortunately, one contact and I saw we were on the ground.

“Nothing to really complain too much about.

“I am sad because we made a good job [until then] but there is nothing to say. It’s just racing.”

Fernandez, who suffered a broken finger, fumed:

“We’re both Aprilia riders and have a pace that puts us a little ahead of the rest, and he just focuses on pushing me off the kerb under braking.

"With that, he’s left the door open for two Ducatis. I feel terrible for my team, I feel terrible for Aprilia, but what he did wasn’t professional.

“Marco wanted to get to that braking point in front of me, and that’s all he focused on, without considering that we weren’t racing alone.”

Told that Fernandez was angry, Bezzecchi replied:

“I was just looking to place myself in the best place possible for the braking.

“I knew Marc could try to overtake, but for me it was useless to perhaps force too much and maybe throw away the race in the first corner.

“It’s what I did, and if Raul is angry then I’m sorry but honestly, he touched me!

“So there is nothing to be angry for. Me vs him or him vs me in the end it’s a racing incident.

“I could not disappear and he could not disappear. It is what it is. I don’t want to waste energy with this. I want to focus on tomorrow.”

Asked about Fernandez's reaction in the gravel trap, Bezzecchi, banned from the Brno GP for slapping a marshal, said:

“It’s normal to make some kind of reaction when you are angry, that maybe in a normal moment you wouldn't do. 

"I am maybe the one that can confirm this more than anyone!

“So I saw him clapping…maybe he thinks I am a good guy! I’m happy for this!”

Jokes aside, it is not the first time Aprilia riders have clashed this season, but Bezzecchi said team boss Massimo Rivola agreed it was a racing incident.

“In the end it is a pity. It is a race incident. Marc overtook, I picked up the bike and once I picked up the bike [Raul] was super close to me and touched a bit my rear wheel, so I crashed and he crashed as well.

“What could I do differently?”

Although still third in the MotoGP World Championship, Bezzecchi has now slipped 59 points behind new leader Marquez.

“It’s a bit more tough than yesterday,” was his assessment of the title situation.

Team-mate Jorge Martin finished fourth after tyre-pressure drama forced him to surrender the lead before a late mistake cost him two more places.