Enea Bastianini is still unhappy with the Motegi sprint penalty that cost him a place in the closing laps of the Japanese Grand Prix sprint, and as of this update on 4 October he hasn’t changed his mind. He believes the call was unfair because he gained nothing from the moment that triggered it, Motorsport’s report on the incident confirms.
Jorge Martin, who was demoted in the very same moment, sees it differently. He admits he touched the green paint at Turn 10 and knows it handed two extra points to title rival Marc Marquez.
The penalty and Bastianini’s response
Bastianini had been running third at Motegi, ahead of Diogo Moreira, when Martin suddenly dropped back into the fight behind him. Martin was struggling with heavy tyre degradation at that point, and the gap between the two closed fast.
On the final lap, both riders ran wide exiting Turn 10 and touched the green paint beyond the white line. Under the sprint’s track limits rule, that meant an automatic one place penalty for each of them, and it cost Bastianini his place on the podium.
He doesn’t think that’s fair. “I think it’s a bit unfair because I didn’t gain any advantage . When I got to the corner, I positioned myself behind Jorge to try and get his slipstream, but he got away from me,” he said.
Bastianini also felt he had a route to the podium that he chose not to take. “In the end, I didn’t attack Martín to avoid pushing too hard, and if I had attacked him, I would surely be on the podium now,” he said.
Martin’s reaction and the final order
Martin took the whole thing on the chin. His rear tyre was, in his words, completely destroyed in the closing stages, which explains why Bastianini closed him down so quickly (our Motegi tyre note has more on how tyre choice shaped the weekend).
He was open about his own error. “It’s a shame. I’m a bit angry with myself for touching the green, because in the end it was a free position, which was mine. It was a big mistake. But I was so focused on trying to get a good exit out of turn 10 that I had to exit at a steeper angle , and maybe that’s what caused me to touch the green. I wasn’t aware I had touched the green, but I saw it later,” he said.
The final classification reflected both penalties. Marc Marquez won the sprint, with Moreira promoted to second once Bastianini and Martin were each dropped a place. Martin was clear that it mattered in the title fight too, since it gave Marquez two extra points he otherwise wouldn’t have had.
What the Motegi sprint penalty means
The Motegi sprint penalty was a one place drop applied to both Bastianini and Martin for running beyond the white line on the final lap. MotoGP’s sprint rules make this automatic: any rider who touches the green paint on the last lap loses a position, whether or not they gained time from it.
That automatic nature is exactly what Bastianini is objecting to. He didn’t deny touching the green; he denies that it helped him. Under the rule as written, intent and advantage don’t come into it. If you touch the paint on the final lap, you drop a place, full stop.
Readers newer to the sport can find the basics of how these track limits calls work in our beginner’s guide, which covers the sort of rules that decide results like this one.
What happens next
There’s a telling detail buried in the final laps at Motegi. Diogo Moreira, running just behind the pair, saw them both run wide and chose not to attack. His podium place was already secure, so he simply let the automatic penalty do the work instead.
Neither rider has suggested the decision will be appealed, and nothing in Motorsport’s report points to any further action from Race Direction. For now the result stands as given, with Bastianini left to argue his case in public rather than through any formal process. For more from a busy run of races, our MotoGP talking points rounds up the other storylines fans have been debating this month.
