Crazy start to the season
The first Sprint of 2026 in Thailand opened with fireworks. We thought we had seen the highlight of the race with the crash of Marco Bezzecchi while he was leading, on the second lap, but the best was yet to come. The fantastic battle of overtakes and counter-overtakes between Marc Marquez and Pedro Acosta glued millions of viewers to their TVs, but it ended with a bitter aftertaste. The race stewards deemed an overtake by Marquez on his compatriot at the end of the penultimate lap too aggressive and ordered the reigning world champion to give up the position.
Controversial penalty
The communication arrived when #93 had already almost completed the last lap and therefore Marquez could do nothing but slow down right at the last corner and let Acosta pass first across the finish line, to the disbelief of the Shark himself. Someone who certainly did not digest the sanction, even more than Marquez, was Davide Tardozzi. The factory team manager spoke immediately to the microphones of Sky Sport MotoGP and his point of view was very clear: according to him the stewards were wrong.
Read more Acosta a true gentleman: “Marc let me pass. I don’t feel like the winner”
Tardozzi’s Fury
“The penalty? In my opinion, it wasn’t justified because [Marquez] didn’t touch him [Acosta]. It’s clear he made a decisive entry, but he didn’t touch him, he stayed on track, he didn’t go on the green and he didn’t go off the track, so it [the penalty] doesn’t fit. In short, we’ve seen many of these things in the past. If we then want to play with dolls and just comb their hair, that’s another matter. I mean, this is a signal that race direction wants a different type of motorcycling. I repeat, we’ve seen many overtakes like this, then it’s clear that sometimes you suffer it, sometimes you do it, but, I repeat, he didn’t touch him and he didn’t go off the track“, Tardozzi stated.
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