Marco Bezzecchi calls Brno marshal incident the ‘worst moment’ of his career

Add as preferred source on Google

Aprilia rider Marco Bezzecchi has addressed his ban from the Czech Grand Prix in detail for the first time.

After crashing out of Saturday’s Sprint, Bezzecchi struck a marshal while his bike was being recovered. He was thrown out of the main Grand Prix as a result, with Aprilia’s appeal unsuccessful.

Aprilia felt the punishment was disproportionate, even if they condemned their rider’s actions. Bezzecchi issued an apology on Sunday morning and has now gone into more detail on his website.

Marco Bezzecchi: I’m ‘grateful’ to the marshal for understanding my stress

Bezzecchi was angered by the marshal ‘accidentally’ revving the engine, but he recognises that there was ‘no justification’ for his behaviour.

Bezzecchi went to see the marshal before the race and was ‘grateful’ for his response. While there is some debate as to whether their meeting was staged for the cameras, the Italian was visibly emotional.

Among riders, pundits and fans, Bezzecchi’s penalty has split opinion. Race winner Marc Marquez defended his ‘extremely frustrated’ rival, as did fellow VR46 academy graduate Francesco Bagnaia.

“I was coming into Brno wanting to make up for the crash in the last race,” Bezzecchi wrote. “Friday had gone decently – good feeling, up at the front of the group. Then Saturday came the Sprint, and with it the worst moment of my career.

“Two laps from the end I crashed at turn three. One of the marshals who came to recover the bike accidentally touched the throttle, making the engine rev on the ground. In that moment I lost control and had a reaction I should never have had.

“There’s no race, no frustration, no adrenaline that can justify what I did. I know that. And the stewards established it too, suspending me from Sunday’s race. Aprilia filed an appeal, but it was rejected, and we accepted the decision without taking it any further.

“On Sunday morning, before the warm-up, I went in person to see the marshal involved. His name is Ladislav. He understood the stress of the moment, and I’m grateful to him for that. But that doesn’t change what happened.

• READ MORE: Czech Grand Prix marshal says ‘I did my job’ after being hit by Marco Bezzecchi

“I want to offer my apologies to the whole MotoGP community for what I did to the marshal on track. I’m also sorry because I know how much commitment and sacrifice marshals put in to keep us safe.

“Behaviour like this must never happen, and there’s no justification for it. I apologise to everyone, to Aprilia Racing, and to my fans. Now it’s time to work, to reflect, and to move forward. Assen is next.”

Bezzecchi watched Marquez win from the Aprilia garage and saw his advantage over the Spaniard cut to 40 points, while teammate Jorge Martin trimmed the gap to eight. It was his second consecutive non-score after Martin took him out at the start of the Hungarian Grand Prix.