MotoGP Race Director talks Rossi, Marquez incident

MotoGP Race Director Mike Webb has explained exactly why the last lap Assen clash between Valentino Rossi and Marc Marquez was deemed a racing incident.

The pair were battling for victory when reigning champion Marquez attempted to pass current title leader Rossi into the final chicane. Contact was made at the first apex of the right-left-right sequence, resulting in Rossi running off and cutting the rest of the corner before re-joining to win by 1.2s from Marquez.

Afterwards, the riders clearly held very different opinions about the incident.

Rossi said: "My view is that I am in front and Marc touched the middle of my bike. His touch pushed me outside the track".

Marquez said: "I studied perfectly the last chicane, how to put the bike in the correct place, but OK I didn't expect he would cut! In the end, what I feel is that we won the race."

Asked who would have won without the contact, Rossi commented "I was in front", while Marquez responded "I was on the inside!"

In terms of Race Direction's judgement, the decisive factor seems to have been that Rossi was in front when the contact occurred.

"We've obviously reviewed the incident from all the camera angles we have. The decision is racing incident. No advantage was gained," Webb told Crash.net. "The basis of that decision is primarily the helicopter shot that shows at every stage Valentino was ahead. So Valentino had the right to the line.

"So Valentino was ahead. He was not passed. As they reached the apex of the right-hand turn Marc touched Valentino, which made [Valentino] go wide. So that's a racing incident. It's unavoidable.

"The two balancing things are that it was a hard pass with contact and you are not allowed to push another rider off the line. But the end result was that they entered and exited that series of corners in the same position. No advantage gained. End of story."