Jorge Lorenzo: ‘Francesco Bagnaia should’ve “accepted” Marc Marquez’s overtake’

Jorge Lorenzo has blamed Francesco Bagnaia for the incident with Marc Marquez at the Portuguese MotoGP, insisting he should have allowed his rival to pass.

Race Direction deemed the collision a racing incident, which both riders and now Lorenzo agree with, although Marquez made it clear that Bagnaia’s manoeuvre was only borderline acceptable.

Bagnaia’s attempt to dive up the inside of Marquez in Portimao in a battle for P5 caused both riders to crash.

Bagnaia did not restart, and Marquez instead finished P16.

“Marc is an aggressive rider, but in this specific moment in my opinion he is not at fault,” Lorenzo told Sky.

“Because the person overtaking the person in front does not have a complete 360° vision of what is happening.

“Instead, the one behind, in this case Bagnaia, could see Marquez's intention which was to return to the line.

“So, in this case in my opinion Pecco was the one who could have avoided this fall simply by letting Marc pass in that corner in front of him and find himself further ahead.

“Instead, he saw a small space, he opened the throttle a little more than normal to squeeze in, but the space there was minimal, they both had the same intention, which was to start first in that corner, and in the end they touched.

“In this case, in my opinion, Marc is not at fault and Pecco could have avoided the collision.

“But it is right not to penalise either of them.”

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Questioned if Bagania should have been punished, Lorenzo replied: “No, but if Pecco had accepted Marc's overtaking to try again later, in my opinion no one would have crashed.”

Jorge Martin was the big beneficiary of the incident.

He won the Portuguese MotoGP and now sits at the top of the standings after two rounds.

But Lorenzo insisted that Bagnaia and Marquez will still rejoin the title scrap.

“Yes sure. Only two races have passed and there is still a lot to go,” Lorenzo said.

“Pecco demonstrated a coldness and serenity. Maybe he made some mistakes, like on Saturday in that braking that made him lose the victory and a small error in calculating the risk in that action with Marquez.

“But Pecco continues to be a great champion, a very calm and cerebral rider. “Marc, on the other hand, is doing very well in Ducati, which is not easy.

“He has the 2023 bike and therefore is a bit inferior in condition, even if minimal.

“In my opinion, Marc is feeling better and is going faster.

“Therefore, Pecco and Marc will be among the favourites for the world championship.”

Jorge Lorenzo backs Enea Bastianini to challenge

Lorenzo also backed Bagnaia’s factory Ducati teammate Enea Bastianini to fight for the title.

Bastianini’s debut season in red was wrecked by injury but, at the weekend in Portimao, he claimed pole position as a reminder of his talent.

“Enea was very unlucky last year,” Lorenzo remembered. “Furthermore, Enea wasn't happy with last year's bike.

“Now he has recovered perfectly, perfect physical conditions and a bike that feels better: we have found a competitive Enea again.

“Maybe he is not yet showing his true potential in the second part of the races in which he is certainly the strongest, but slowly finding confidence in himself we will see a talented Bastianini who will fight for victories and certainly for the world championship.”