Why did Marc Marquez wave Fabio di Giannantonio past in the Dutch MotoGP?
“We saw both - Di Giannantonio and Marquez - blatantly not want to lead the pack"
Marc Marquez raised eyebrows by seemingly gesturing for Fabio di Giannantonio to overtake him in the Dutch MotoGP.
The Gresini rider apparently yielded position on Lap 8 at Assen, as they jockeyed for a podium finish.
Gresini’s Marquez crossed the finish line in fourth, and VR46’s Di Giannantonio fifth, in the grand prix won by factory Ducati rider Pecco Bagnaia.
Marquez was later hit with a 16-second time penalty for breaching tyre pressure. He dropped from fourth to 10th.
TNT Sports’ Sylvain Guintoli believes Marquez waved Di Giannantonio past in an ultimately futile attempt to avoid a tyre pressure penalty.
“Very likely. To me, it’s what it looks like,” he said.
“It’s the first time we’ve seen a rider make an obvious move to try to be behind somebody.
“If we explain that very quickly: riders and teams have minimum front tyre pressure that they have to respect. They can’t be under 1.8 bars during 40% of the race.
“They also have warnings on the dashboard if they have not completed enough laps above that threshold.
“The way to make the front tyre go up in pressure is to be following somebody.
“Because that guy will take the clean air from you, and you will get the hot air from his bike.
“Therefore your temperature and pressure inside the front tyre will go up.
“We saw both - Di Giannantonio and Marquez - blatantly not want to lead the pack.
“This would suggest that this was the issue…
“If they were doing that, it means they were really on the limit.”
Michael Laverty said about Marquez: “He was hoping to hang onto the GP24 Ducatis.
“The gap opened up and he had to get creative to keep his tyre in that range.”
Marquez is now 51 points behind championship leader Jorge Martin, who finished second behind Bagnaia in the Dutch MotoGP.
James was a sports journalist at Sky Sports for a decade covering everything from American sports, to football, to F1.
