Quartararo penalised for Espargaro clash

The World Championship leader earns the ire of stewards after clattering into his title rival at Assen

Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™) has been slapped with a Long Lap penalty as punishment for his clash with MotoGP™ title rival Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing) in the Motul TT Assen. The World Championship leader went down as he attempted to make a pass for second position on Lap 5 at the TT Circuit Assen’s Strubben corner, and ran into the Spaniard’s RS-GP. Espargaro kept himself upright but had to take to the gravel and resumed all the way back in 15th position, as Quartararo remounted in 24th spot.

The FIM MotoGP™ Stewards panel deemed Quartararo was overly ambitious in attempting to overtake Espargaro. #20 was not in a position to successfully complete the move and subsequently crashed, causing contact with #41 and forcing him to run wide.

The avoiding action undertaken by Espargaro allowed him to avoid crashing and rejoin. Nevertheless, his race was severely impacted. Quartararo has been given a Long Lap penalty to be served in the MotoGP™ race at the Monster Energy British Grand Prix.

After his run-in with Espargaro, it hardly got any better for the Yamaha rider. Having dropped off the lead lap following a visit to pit lane, De Strubben bit him again when he highsided in brutal fashion on his 12th lap of the Grand Prix. That was the end of Quartararo’s race, before he went to the medical centre for a check-up and x-ray due to pain in his left shoulder. There, he was cleared of any fractures and declared fit.

Meanwhile, Espargaro climbed all the way back to fourth position at the chequered flag, a charge he completed with an amazing double-move on Jack Miller (Ducati Lenovo Team) and Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) on the final lap at the Geert Timmer Chicane. With the 13 points for that result, Aprilia’s ‘Captain’ has reduced Quartararo’s World Championship lead to just 21.

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