Bastianini admits he deliberately ignored penalty orders in Catalan GP

The factory Ducati rider was battling with Gresini’s Alex Marquez at the outer reaches of the top 10 in Sunday’s 24-lap Catalan GP when he was forced wide at Turn 1.

Bastianini ran through the run-off area at Turns 1-2, with riders meant to demonstrate that they have lost at least a second in lap time to escape punishment.

The stewards handed Bastianini – who was expecting Marquez to have to drop the position he gained – a long lap penalty, though the Ducati rider ignored this.

He was hit with a second one for ignoring the first, which he also decided not to serve, and was then given a ride-through penalty before that was converted to a 32s time punishment for not complying with that order.

It dropped Bastianini from ninth to 18th, and the Italian claimed the stewards admitted they got their initial decision wrong – but they cannot reverse these calls after the fact.

Asked if he didn’t see the initial penalty notice, Bastianini said: “The dashboard was too clear. I didn’t agree with the dashboard.

“I overtook Alex on the straight and when we arrived on the brakes [into Turn 1] he braked later compared to me and that pushed me out onto the kerbs.

“For me it was impossible to remain on the brakes and the only solution was to cut the chicane. It was possible to come back, but where? On the kerb of Turn 2? No, impossible.

“Also, I have lost time because I followed the line of the long lap [to escape Turn 2].

“I waited for the drop of position [order] for Alex, but then arrived the long lap penalty for me.

“I didn’t agree and I decided to continue without doing the long lap.

“I know it’s not the correct choice, but we had to do something because nothing has changed. Every race there is something to explain with the stewards and it’s not correct.”

Bastianini’s race analysis shows he didn’t cede a second in that incident, going from a 1m40.589s on lap 11 to a 1m41.078s on lap 12 when the incident happened.

“Also, after the race I come with Davide [Tardozzi, team boss] to explain the problems and to see better the videos,” he added.

“For the stewards, at the start, the long lap penalty was correct. After, he said ‘Ok, no’.

“They saw the decision was wrong. I tried to get back my ninth position, but race direction can do nothing.

“Also, for the race direction I didn’t lose the [correct amount] of time when I entered back onto the track [at Turn 2]. I said ‘no, no, no, check the video better – I lost one second’.”

Bastianini noted that his Ducati team agreed with his decision to ignore the penalties.

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