Jorge Lorenzo: “I still believe the action in Jerez was too hard”

Time to reflect and analyse his last ditch defeat to Marc Marquez in the recent Spanish MotoGP race has not altered Jorge Lorenzo’s judgement that the last corner move by the Repsol Honda rider warranted a penalty.

Lorenzo was furious after Marquez made contact with his factory Yamaha YZR-M1 with an aggressive pass to snatch second at the final corner on the last lap in Jerez.
He may have calmed down after initially refusing to shake Marquez’s hand in Parc Ferme and on the podium, but he still firmly believes the reigning Moto2 world champion should have been penalised.

The reigning MotoGP world champion believes Race Direction should have used a new penalty points system to punish Marquez for his aggressive move.
The points system was introduced for 2013 to clampdown on dangerous and aggressive riding across all three classes after Race Direction came in for criticism for the way various incidents were dealt with and the lack of consistency in the punishments handed out.

Speaking ahead of this weekend’s French Grand Prix at Le Mans, Lorenzo said: “Even now when I am cold I still think the action in Jerez was too hard. I still believe this. I am not against Marc personally, he is young and when you are young you try and when you see so much space you go for it.

In Jerez he saw so much space and he tried. But I think this year we have the licence points system and we are not using it. I would like that in the future that Race Direction will use this new system. In Jerez in my opinion the minimum should have been some penalty points. One yellow card should have been used. 

In racing it is possible to touch another rider but when you hit another rider it is a different story, especially if you make him go in another line. It is difficult and also in soccer the referees sometimes make a mistake and judge that an action was too far but another he would say something different.  But when you make a hit in racing you must be penalised, some points.

You can make a miscalculation and touch another rider and I repeat that I do not have anything personal with Marc, I just think that when you get penalised you change your mind and become a more logical rider. This is what happened with me.

In 2005 I made many mistakes and the only time I changed was when I got penalised one race (Lorenzo wa suspended for the Sepang 250GP after colliding with Alex de Angelis in Japan). If not I would probably have kept going in the same way and making the same races crashing.”

Ironically, Lorenzo and Marquez were sat on the same row on the flight home after Jerez and the 26-year-old did accept Marquez’s handshake.

They were asked to repeat that gesture after today’s pre-event press conference in France and duly obliged.

Marquez was once again grilled on his view of the incident today in Le Mans and like in Jerez, he said he had to attack with it being the last corner of the race.

The 20-year-old said: “For me it is the same as what I said in Jerez. If you do this on the first lap or the middle of the race, maybe something should be done. But at the end this is racing – it was the last lap.

In motorbikes we have seen this happen many times and when you see this in motorcycle racing the fans like it a little more. Always there has to be some limit but in the last lap, the last corner, if I see some space I will try. In Jerez I braked a little later than the previous lap but contact can happen, this is racing.”