Joan Mir rages: Marc Marquez “kicked me out of the track, something you can’t do”

Joan Mir expressed his frustration at how Marc Marquez's overtake attempt in the sprint race at the Spanish MotoGP was handled by stewards.

Gresini’s Marquez, desperately on the comeback trail after crashing from the lead, made contact with former Repsol Honda teammate Mir as he tried to overtake at the final corner.

Marquez was punished by the stewards by dropping one place, and he finished seventh, but Mir fell a few places down to 10th as a result of the contact.

"He came into my line, he kicked me out of the track to get that position,” Mir was quoted by Motorsport.

“So, this is something at the moment you cannot do. Or if you do, you have to be penalised.

"I'm not pissed with the manoeuvre from Marc, because if he waited three seconds more we pass the corner and in the straight he overtakes me.

"So, this is something that I don't really understand being in that position.

"If we fight for the podium I understand. But man, it's unbelievable how they value these types of things, and they are so irregular with penalties. It's unbelievable.

"In the end, I'm a rider who in the past liked to overtake with contact. It's something that I do because nowadays with the aero it's very difficult to overtake.

"So, with a bit of contact, we have to have this margin in the overtakes. But one thing is the margin to touch and open your line, and the other thing is to kick the rider out of the track.

"This is a completely different story. They have to judge as they did in the past."

Last year at Portimao, Mir was slapped with a double long lap penalty for the following day’s grand prix after he made contact with Fabio Quartararo in the sprint race.

Mir insisted “I want to understand” how the FIM stewards could come to a softer decision for Marquez on Saturday in Jerez.

“How is this possible that [for] one rider you say one thing, and for the same move or even worse it's [only] demoted one position,” he said.