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Marquez/Rossi clash a 'racing incident' say Honda

Repsol Honda team boss Alberto Puig has defended Marc Marquez’ Argentine MotoGP antics, as you would expect, and called the clash between his rider and Valentino Rossi ‘a racing incident’.

Marquez had already ridden into Aleix Espargaro during the race, pushing him off the track, and then tangled with The Doctor which resulted in the Movistar Yamaha man crashing. All this was after he had bump started his own stalled RC213V on the grid and ridden it the wrong way up the track.

“I think it was a really complicated day for Marc. From our understanding it was not 100 per cent what happened on the grid. Normally the bike doesn’t stall on the grid and this was the starting point. And from there I mean it was a continuation of circumstances that made it more complicated,” said Puig.

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“For sure the rider acted on what he thought and believed when he was seeing that situation. As you can imagine when you are on a starting grid with 20 riders behind you with their engines on, you want to be in a safe position. So he went to his position because he thought the marshals were telling him to go there and nobody could take him out from that position and so that was the starting point to not a very good race.

“I think Marc explained really well what happened with Aleix. It’s true he came to him very fast, he was lapping three or four seconds faster than Aleix and maybe approached to him a little faster.

On the second problem with Valentino, it’s true that at that corner if you check on TV there is water just on the line. So at that time it looked like he had a lock, he had to release the brake and run out.

“He had some space, if you check the TV he was not really on the limit. I mean Valentino also ran out a little bit. It’s not like Marc came in, in a position where there was another rider. Both riders went out a little bit and unfortunately Marc - due to this problem with the water - touched him and then Vale crashed on the grass.

“We understand it was a racing incident and of course we are very sorry for it. But of course, in this type of situation everyone has his own interpretation. Race Direction has his interpretation and the riders have his own interpretation. Of course we believe in our rider, what he told us.”

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