Early in the MotoGP race Sunday at Algarve International Circuit, Marc Marquez lost control of his Honda and rammed into Miguel Oliveira from behind, causing both riders to crash out of the battle for the lead.
According to Oliveira, he suffered extensive bruising on his right side, where Marquez hit him.
“Today was a shame, obviously to end my home Grand Prix in just two laps was not something I expected,” said Oliveira. “However, we can still be proud on the progress we made throughout this week. We had a difficult day on Friday and then to do Qualifying like how we did it yesterday and to almost have the podium in hand on the last lap in the Sprint Race was amazing. We had a good start today, to lead and then coming second, I think there was a clear opportunity for us to score a podium. I’m still very bruised on the right side of my hip from the crash, hopefully I can do everything I can [to] be fully fit for Argentina next weekend.”
Marquez, who may have broken a bone in his right hand in the incident, explained himself in a statement that read: “First of all I want to say that I am very sorry to Oliveira, his team and the Portuguese fans because it was his race. I did a really big mistake today, of course it was not my intention to have this happen, my intention was not even to overtake Martin at that point, but I had a massive lock with the front. Maybe the hard front was not fully up to temperature, I released the brakes and the bike went inside. I avoided Martin but made contact with Oliveira. I straight away went over to Miguel and then in the medical centre I went to check on him – fortunately it looks like he is OK and this is the most important thing. On my side I have some pain in my right hand and with my knee but this is not so important at the minute. I fully accept and respect the penalty of the double long-lap during the Argentina GP because I did a mistake.”
For his actions, Marquez received a double-long-lap penalty to be served in his next Grand Prix.
The FIM Stewards penalty statement is below.
