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MotoGP, Marquez's penalty: the regulations say it has 'expired'

The MotoGP Court of Appeal should have ruled within 4 weeks of the appeal, but more time has passed and silence still reigns

MotoGP: Marquez's penalty: the regulations say it has 'expired'

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In the next few hours we will know if Marc Marquez will be at Le Mans. As he had anticipated at Jerez, this morning he underwent a CT scan and, once the results of the exam have been obtained, the doctors will tell him if he can leave for France and get back on the Honda, after having already missed 3 of the first 4 GPs of the season.

Focusing on his physical condition, however, we risk forgetting another aspect that could affect his weekend: the double long lap penalty that the FIM Stewards had inflicted on him after the incident in Portugal.

You will remember that, however, they had written on the official document that it would have to be served in Argentina and not in a more generic 'next Grand Prix', as it should be. This triggered an appeal from the Honda team, with the Appeal Stewards passing the ball to the MotoGP Court of Appeal which in turn decided not to decide and stall. Maybe too much.

The attentive David Emmett, on his Motomatters website, has in fact highlighted how that penalty has expired by now. Regulations in hand, section 3.4.4 states that the MotoGP Court of Appeal must 'rule in any case within 4 weeks of receipt of the appeal documentation".

We recall that Honda filed the appeal on March 29 and that the Appeal Stewards had accepted it on March 30, referring the decision to the Court of Appeal. This, in turn, decided to suspend the penalty as a precaution on 13 April, pending the final decision. Which never arrived and the 4 weeks required by the regulation have now passed.

The FIM president Jorge Viegas, in a press conference during the SBK round in Assen, on April 21st, reassured everyone that the final judgment would arrive within a week. Unfortunately, that is not the case.

Once again, the FIM does not seem to be familiar with the regulations that it has written itself.

 

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