Joan Mir penalized for contact with Quartararo

The Spanish rider Joan Mir (Honda) was penalized by the stewards of the Portuguese MotoGP Grand Prix for “irresponsible driving” during today’s sprint race, won by the Italian Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati), according to the organization.

​​​​​​Mir was involved in a collision with the Frenchman Fábio Quartararo (Yamaha), in the second of 12 laps of the race held at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve (AIA), in which Miguel Oliveira (Aprilia) was ranked seventh.

As a result of the incident, Mir retired due to a crash, while Quartararo was hopelessly delayed, finishing in 10th position, 5.924 seconds behind the winner.

The stewards considered that Joan Mir was “too ambitious” with the attempt to overtake Quartararo, which “had a severe impact on his race”, penalizing him with a ‘long lap penalty’, a passage for a longer lap .

Honda and Mir appealed the decision of the stewards, who considered the appeal “unfounded” for “merely saying that the pilot does not agree with the penalty”.

The decision thus becomes effective and will be fulfilled in Sunday’s race of the MotoGP GP of Portugal, the first race of the season in the World Speed ​​Championship.