Marco Bezzecchi Causes a Stir in Brno — Following the incident with a steward, the Aprilia rider has now issued a public apology
The Czech Grand Prix in Brno will take place without Marco Bezzecchi. On Saturday, the MotoGP championship leader bumped into and struck a marshal after crashing in the sprint through Turn 3.
Video footage shows that one of the marshals was turning the throttle as the Aprilia was being righted in the gravel trap. That’s why Bezzecchi rushed to his motorcycle to activate the emergency stop switch.
In the ensuing scuffle, the Italian lost his temper and struck the marshal. As a result, the race commissioners suspended Bezzecchi from the warm-up and the Grand Prix. An appeal by Aprilia was rejected following a hearing.
The Italian racing team accepts the exclusion from race day and will not file an appeal with the International Court of Appeal (CAI). As a result, race day in Brno will take place without the World Championship leader.
On Sunday morning, Bezzecchi rode a scooter to Turn 3, where he had crashed during Saturday’s sprint. He sought out the race marshal and apologized to him. The two embraced, and Bezzecchi gave him his gloves.
The Italian also posted a public apology on Instagram: “I would like to apologize to the entire MotoGP community for my behavior toward the race marshal.”
“I’m also sorry because I know how much effort and sacrifice the marshals put in to ensure our safety. Behavior like this should not happen, and there is absolutely no justification for it.”
How the marshal experienced the situation
“I apologize to everyone, to Aprilia Racing, and to all my fans,” said Bezzecchi. The race marshal has also accepted his apology. In an interview with TNT Sports, he describes the incident.
“I mean, he was really under stress, and I understand the situation. He crashed, so I did my job. I went over to the bike and picked it up,” the race marshal explained.
“I pulled the clutch and tried to pick up the bike. It was still running and started rolling, so I wanted to put it back down, and then it revved up.”
“He probably thought I did it on purpose. It was purely an accident, and then everyone saw what happened.” The apology on Sunday morning was very important to the sports director.
“He just came up to me and apologized personally. So I understand him, and I wish him all the best. For me, it’s really important that he apologized.”
Question for Rivola: Are the riders squandering their chance at the world championship?
On Sunday morning, Aprilia motorsports director Massimo Rivola also appeared before the cameras of international TV networks at the start of the warm-up to issue a statement.
“First of all, we’d also like to apologize to the race director,” Rivola told MotoGP.com. “Second, we accept the penalty. We do not tolerate such behavior either.“
”I have to say that we initially filed an appeal because, compared to similar cases in the past, we saw a disproportion between the action and the penalty—but that’s the end of the matter.”
Both Aprilia riders have already dropped a lot of championship points. Bezzecchi alone crashed in four of the first nine sprints. Jorge Martin had an accident in Barcelona with his teammate Raul Fernandez.
After that race, Martin shoved Aprilia team manager Paolo Bonora in the pits. Subsequently, in Hungary, Martin also took Bezzecchi and Fernandez out of the race during a start-line incident. For that, he received two long-lap penalties for Brno.
Are the Aprilia riders squandering their big chance at the World Championship? “I think the championship is very, very long,” Rivola replies to this question. “We have a competitive bike, we have very competitive riders, so there’s still a lot of the championship left—for everyone, and for us as well.”