Honda boss reveals FIM president debate about Marquez: “He could not understand”
The MotoGP Court of Appeal ruled, ahead of this weekend’s French MotoGP, that Marquez no longer needs to serve the double long lap penalty that he was punished with for crashing into Miguel Oliveira in Portimao.
Marquez explained that the original penalty was specifically for Argentina, which he missed due to injury, before the MotoGP Stewards reworded it to make him serve the penalty whenever he returned - although Honda successful overturned this decision.
“From the beginning we always thought that what happened, when the penalty was altered, was not right,” Puig said.
“This is what we were saying.
“The penalty, in the terms that were imposed, was crystal clear.
“The change, issued later, was not a clarification but a radical change in the penalty and its reach.
“This is precisely what the Court of Appeal has confirmed in its judgement.
“I remember when this happened, I spoke to Jorge Viegas [the FIM president]. I explained our points of view.
“For whatever reason, I don’t know, he could not understand it.
“We won the case.”
Marquez to try new Kalex chassis
Marquez missed four rounds and returns at Le Mans, after hand surgery, 80 points behind the championship-leader Francesco Bagnaia.
Honda won at the Grand Prix of the Americas in his absence through LCR’s Alex Rins.
This weekend, Repsol Honda teammates Marquez and Joan Mir plan to use the new Kalex chassis which Puig hopes will boost the bike that has been subpar for at least the past year.
“We are planning to try this new component,” he confirmed.
“We need to get more information because, in Jerez, only Stefan Bradl could try it. And he had a crash.
“We are planning on doing it on [Saturday], let’s see if it’s possible.
“Honda won the race in Austin. Marc did a good job in Portimao in the Saturday race.
“We are still not there. We are working hard to bring the bike to a better position. This is where we are now.”
Puig said about his star rider’s comeback: “It’s very important. For him, because a rider must race.
“He’s back, we are very happy, the team has full motivation. Let’s go.”
James was a sports journalist at Sky Sports for a decade covering everything from American sports, to football, to F1.
