Enea Bastianini clarifies why he ran off track when overtaking Jorge Martin
Enea Bastianini, Jorge Martin and Marc Marquez questioned about Misano controversy
Enea Bastianini has explained why he ran off track in his controversial last lap overtake of Jorge Martin in the MotoGP Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.
The final lap overtake at Turn 4 from factory Ducati rider Bastianini on Martin for the lead of last Sunday’s race at Misano has been subject of hot debate ever since.
Bastianini launched his Ducati up the inside of Pramac rider Martin, with the pair making slight contact and the latter running well wide - while Bastianini also ran beyond the kerb.
The stewards took no action on the incident, though did allegedly look into it. However, they are yet to publicly confirm this.
Opinion on the matter was split, with some riders feeling that the fact Bastianini also ran off track meant he should have been forced to give the place back.
But ahead of this weekend’s Indonesian GP, the Emilia Romagna GP winner says he was always going to make the corner had he not looked to see if Martin had crashed.
“Well, no, I’m not surprised because also I went directly off the line because I turned my head to see how Jorge was, because I saw [a suggestion] of a crash,” he said when asked if he was surprised by the fallout the overtake has generated.
“And I thought he crashed. But he was only wide. Without that situation I was on the line and I agree with my first approach, with my first decision to be correct.”
Championship leader Martin’s opinion on the incident hasn’t changed since it happened, but “respects the stewards’ decision”.
“For me, there’s no sense to keep talking about the past,” he said.
“I’m not agreed 100% because I think it was over the limit. In the end I need to respect the stewards’ decision. So, congrats to Enea and I will try here.”
Marc Marquez was the most notable name to have called for a penalty for Bastianini last Sunday, and suggested his opinion hasn’t changed when asked for his thoughts again on Thursday in Lombok.
“I was not involved. I have already said my opinion,” the Gresini rider said.
