New video footage has emerged displaying Marc Marquez meticulously planning his dramatic COTA MotoGP grid exit with Ducati crew chief Marco Rigamonti.
Nevertheless, it additionally reveals that Marquez and Ducati misunderstood the penalty penalties – contradicting the rider’s post-race claims that they executed the “excellent” technique.
The newly launched footage on MotoGP.com tells a distinct story.
It exhibits the eight-time world champion was unaware of the ride-through penalty he would obtain by beginning the warm-up lap from pit lane, wrongly believing he would begin final on the grid however with no extra penalty.
As a substitute, if the beginning had not been delayed, Marquez would have began the warm-up lap from pit lane on his spare bike, lined up again on pole place for the beginning, after which been pressured to tug in and serve a trip via.
A ride-through penalty sometimes prices a rider 25-30 seconds in a race.
“I begin final and that’s it”
On the grid, Marquez is seen discussing his choices with Rigamonti, asking:
“If I am going there [to swap bikes] and I exit from the pit lane, I begin final, proper?
“[Last] On the grid and with out a lengthy lap penalty?”
Rigamonti replies: “Yeah, you begin final”.
“However with out [a penalty]” Marquez asks once more.
“Yeah” says Rigamonti.
At this level, Rigamonti hesitates, “I am unsure how that works”.
He then turns to crew supervisor Davide Tardozzi and asks:
“If he [Marquez] now desires to begin from the field, with the dry bike…”
Tardozzi accurately clarifies: “He will get a trip via.”
Nevertheless, Rigamonti questions the ruling:
“No, with out coming into with this [bike]. Ranging from there and simply leaving this [bike on the grid]”
Marquez, nonetheless satisfied that he wouldn’t obtain a penalty, asserts:
“Yeah certain, I begin final and that’s it.
“It’ll be as if [I] haven’t completed the conventional begin process.”
Rigamonti agrees with Marquez: “He begins final.”
Rigamonti then explains the implications of swapping bikes after the warm-up lap however fails to say the ride-through penalty that additionally applies to that state of affairs, telling Tardozzi:
“Or he does the warm-up lap with this bike after which enters pit lane, he’ll begin from pit lane.”
Tardozzi doesn’t contradict these statements.
Marc Marquez, 2025 Americas MotoGP grid
Together with his thoughts made up, Marquez instructs Rigamonti to make sure his second bike is prepared and lays out his actual plan:
“When there’s three minutes remaining, if it’s [dry] like this we’ll go… The mechanics return to the pit and I am going.
“Inform me if the bike is prepared.”
Then, cupping his hand to Marco Rigamonti’s ear, Marquez says: “Don’t inform anybody.”
After confirming his second bike is prepared, Marquez states: “Let’s go along with the plan.”
Rigamonti asks: “Flag to flag?”.
Marquez shuts down that concept: “No, when there’s three minutes remaining I’m going.”
The footage ends with Marquez sprinting off the grid to the Ducati storage, triggering round half of the grid to repeat his tactic.
Begin delay, 2025 Americas MotoGP at COTA
Race Director: “They Had been Very Fortunate to Get Away With That”
Race director Mike Webb is then interviewed, confirming that guidelines are in place to penalise such a transfer – had the beginning not been delayed as a result of security issues.
“We had the same state of affairs in Argentina 2018. We obtained collectively and rewrote the foundations to be sure that anybody who adjustments the kind of tyres on the bike by leaving the grid will get a penalty.
“So if there wasn’t the chaos that brought on me to do a brand new begin process – if we’d been in a position to proceed, the riders who went and obtained their spare bike in pit lane with totally different tyres would have served a trip via penalty within the race.”
Referencing the brand new footage, Webb provides: “It sounds just like the Marquez crew weren’t anticipating a trip via, they have been maybe anticipating simply to begin from pit lane or the again of the grid.
“No, the rule is that altering tyres in that means, you [re]take your authentic grid place after the warm-up [lap] and also you serve a trip via within the race.
“In the way in which that it occurred [on Sunday] with so many bikes and such confusion to get bikes and folks off the grid, I known as a brand new begin [for safety] they usually have been very fortunate to get away with that.”
Though Marquez initially benefitted from the restart, turning pole place into the race lead along with his dry bike, he crashed out on lap 9.
Group-mate and eventual winner Francesco Bagnaia, together with fellow podium finishers Alex Marquez and Fabio di Giannantonio, had been amongst these to imitate Marquez by operating again to the pits, triggering the beginning delay.
Solely three riders – Brad Binder, Enea Bastianini and Ai Ogura – accurately selected dry tyres for the unique grid.
Talking post-race, Marc Marquez had additionally wrongly believed he might pressure a delayed begin “if greater than 10 riders comply with me” off the grid:
“I mentioned [to Rigamonti] ‘OK, perhaps I’ll depart the grid’. As a result of I knew that if greater than 10 riders comply with me, the beginning is delayed and all people restarts on the grid.
“So that’s what I attempted to pressure, that everyone follows me, as a result of like this everybody will restart with the slicks and the race was within the level the place I like.”
Nevertheless, that rule solely applies if greater than 10 riders ‘will begin the race from pit lane exit’, for instance by pitting on the finish of the warm-up lap.
Sunday’s race was formally delayed 16 seconds earlier than the beginning of the warm-up lap.
