Joan Mir and Álex Márquez’s race ended with an atypical incident at the Japanese GP. At the start of the race, the Gresini driver made contact with his opponent’s Honda and ended up on the ground, hitting the protections, without gravity. As for Mir, he also shot straight, with his opponent’s Ducati stuck between his bike and his wheel!
The race stewards found Álex Márquez responsible for the collision, citing a maneuver “irresponsible”which will earn him a long-lap in the next main race in which he will take part. Very unhappy after this sequence, Mir expected an apology from his rival.
“He went wide, then I took the opportunity to overtake him, we changed direction and when I was in the middle of turn 12, he hit me violently at the back, his bike crashed. stuck between my saddle and my swinging arm”explained the Honda driver. “I went straight into the gravel. It’s incredible, it’s crazy what happened.”
“I expect an apology”added Mir. “I need an apology, when you destroy someone’s race, I want them to tell me they’re sorry, if they really mean it. It’s normal for me to be angry. “It’s not the first time this kind of thing has happened with him.”
VIDEO – The summary of the Japanese Grand Prix
Mir did not hesitate to make the link with another controversial incident, that of the Aragón GP between the same Álex Márquez and Pecco Bagnaia, which divided the drivers as to responsibilities: “The maneuver is similar to the one he did in Aragón with Pecco. It’s not exactly the same, because I was clearly in front. Pecco was trying to overtake him, I was in front. But his bike is It’s stopped in the same place as Pecco’s in Aragon. It’s crazy, it’s crazy.”
Mir spoke to the media before the race stewards’ verdict, but he was surprised that the decision was slow in coming in an incident that was clear to him: “I’m waiting for news from race management. Probably they’re sleeping or they’ve gone to eat something, I don’t know what they’re doing.”
Márquez unhappy with his penalty
Note that after this incident, Gresini announced that Álex Márquez would not speak to the press this Sunday, but the team issued a statement in which he said they were sorry… while disputing his penalty.
“I apologized to him for what happened.”commented Marquez. “We will have to respect a long-lap penalty [au GP d’Australie]although I disagree: seven days ago, at turn 3, a driver hit me the same way and nothing happened. This shows that the regulations don’t apply the same to everyone, but that’s how it is. We will learn this lesson.”
The incident to which the Catalan refers is that caused by Jack Miller, considered a racing incident by all the drivers concerned.
Avec Luca Bartolomeo
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