Lorenzo avoids penalty for causing Barcelona pile-up
Honda MotoGP rider Jorge Lorenzo has avoided a penalty for the crash that took three other riders out of the Catalan Grand Prix on Sunday.
Lorenzo lost control of his bike when trying to overtake the third-placed Yamaha of Maverick Vinales down the inside of the sharp Turn 10 left-hander on the second lap.
After hitting the ground, his bike collected Vinales, as well as the Ducati of Andrea Dovizioso in the braking zone and the arriving Yamaha of Valentino Rossi, with all four riders taken out of the race.
Lorenzo's Honda teammate Marc Marquez went on to dominate the race, and claimed afterwards that Lorenzo didn't deserve a penalty and wasn't “out of control”, with another Honda rider Cal Crutchlow saying the same.
However, both Vinales and Dovizioso believed Lorenzo's mistake warranted sanction, with the former suggesting a drop to the back of the grid for the next race.
Having reviewed the footage of the incident, the FIM stewards – led by chairman Freddie Spencer, a two-time 500cc champion – ultimately decided to take no further action against Lorenzo.
The crash leaves Lorenzo 15th in the championship on 19 points, but teammate Marquez has inherited a commanding 37-point lead in the title race over Dovizioso.
Lorenzo said that he apologised to Dovizioso after the race, and that the Italian – who was partnered with Lorenzo at Ducati in 2017-18 – accepted the apology.
Asked about this, Dovizioso said: “Accept, not accept, it doesn't change anything – so I think it's intelligent to say 'okay'. It was good he came to the box [to apologise], but it didn't change anything.”
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