Explained: MotoGP penalty rule changed - what does it mean for Marc Marquez?

In his absence due to injury, the wording of a double long lap penalty issued to Moto3 rider David Munoz has been significantly altered to avoid the type of confusion that surrounds Marquez.

The updated wording of the rule now reads: “The double long lap penalty shall be served by the rider at the next grand prix that the rider participates.”

The Repsol Honda rider was hit with a double long lap penalty for crashing into Miguel Oliveira in Portimao, but at the time the rule stated he must serve his punishment at the next race.

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But Marquez missed the next race in Argentina due to injury.

Honda appealed the FIM MotoGP Stewards Panel’s attempts to re-jig Marquez’s punishment, so that he must serve it whenever he returns from injury.

Honda’s argument is, essentially, that a rule cannot be rewritten after an event to apply to an individual rider.

Marquez hopes to return at Jerez on April 28 but the MotoGP Court of Appeal has not yet delivered its final ruling on whether he must serve his double long lap penalty when he next competes, or whether the penalty has expired.

But, this past weekend at the Circuit of the Americas, it became clear that the FIM MotoGP Stewards have reworded the double long lap penalty rule to avoid a repeat of the controversy surrounding Marquez.

Moto3 rider Munoz will be the first rider for whom the newly-worded rule applies.

Because it has been rewritten while Marquez’s appeal is pending, it remains unknown whether it will apply to him.

Spanish media expect Marquez’s appeal to be successful. 

AS reported that Marquez repeatedly asked the Stewards if his penalty was only applicable for Argentina, and they repeatedly answered ‘yes’, before he agreed to sign the sanctioning papers.

Marquez then opted to undergo hand surgery for the injury sustained in his crash with Oliveira.

A final decision on his looming double long lap penalty is expected before the Spanish MotoGP, assuming he is fit to race.