Aleix Espargaro reacts to “race ban” comment about Marc Marquez
When Marquez crashed into Miguel Oliveira at the season-opening Portuguese MotoGP, he incurred a double long lap penalty which Espargaro furiously insisted was not enough.
But Marquez has been absent through injury ever since and, as he returns for the French MotoGP at Le Mans, his appeal against the rewording of his punishment has been successful meaning he will not face a double long lap penalty after all.
Espargaro, who initially demanded “to ban him for one race, minimum”, reacted at Le Mans to Marca: “I don't have much to say about that.
“A lot has already been written. It's not something I'm very interested in.
“The mistake, that's obvious.
“The monumental 's**', was, that I still can't understand it, it was the wording of the sanction.
“It is something that cannot happen even in the Third Regional, imagine in the First Division of MotoGP.
“From here, I can have my opinion or not, but there is nothing more to comment.”
Aprilia rider Espargaro has previously defended his initial demands for Marquez to be hit with a one-race ban.
He said earlier this week to AS: “It is not to be critical of Marc but to be honest and face it. The others are behind.
“If it can happen to anyone? Yes, but how many times has it happened to him and how many to me or Pecco?”
And he clearly suggested that his fellow MotoGP riders are not critical enough of Marquez.
“There are many drivers, many, complaining that Takaaki Nakagami deserves a severe penalty, because he has had many repeated ones and there is no penalty,” Espargaro said.
“But there is no boom because Nakagami is not Marquez.
“Nakagami has had a hundred times more [criticism] than Marc, but it's not Marc and it doesn't come out everywhere.
“And with Marc it's like they don't dare.
“Why do we all dare with Nakagami and then we ask Fabio and Pecco about Marc and their answers are 'yeah, well..."
James was a sports journalist at Sky Sports for a decade covering everything from American sports, to football, to F1.
