New rule, same winner: Marc Marquez’s Spanish GP Sprint victory stands

Under a previous MotoGP rule that was later revised, Marc Marquez’s Spanish Grand Prix sprint race victory would not have stood.

Marquez took the chequered flag at Jerez in a win that signalled what appeared to be a return to form for the six-time MotoGP champion.

However, the result wasn’t without its talking points, with Marquez having cut through pit lane to switch bikes after coming off earlier in the race.

Some riders came to Marquez’s defence after the sprint. Francesco Bagnaia was among those who spoke out, saying Marquez hadn’t broken any rules.

However, questions still remain over whether his win should have been allowed under the current regulations.

Pit lane rule dropped years ago, long before Marquez controversy

During The Race’s MotoGP podcast, journalist Simon Patterson shared that Guido Meda reached out to him, highlighting a change in the rulebook that had mostly gone unnoticed.

Meda pointed to the specific regulation stating that riders must use designated lanes to enter the pit lane, making it illegal to cross the white lines.

“What I don’t understand, and I haven’t been able to get an answer to this yet – why the rules that were in place around pit entry were removed from the MotoGP rule book a few years ago.

“Guido Meda, Italian MotoGP legendary commentator, messaged me yesterday night to say, ‘I found this, and I can’t figure out what year it was from. But entrance to the pit lane must be made only through the deceleration lane or designated area. Crossing the white lines while entering the pit lane is prohibited.’

“So at some point in the last few years, that’s been taken out. And I don’t really understand why? It was not taken out 12 minutes after the end of the sprint race on Saturday.

“I don’t know where that’s quite disappeared to because that then would have made what Marc did illegal. But there’s no rules on it, so he didn’t do anything illegal. Because that’s not there now.”

Marc Marquez’s Sprint win didn’t carry over to the Spanish Grand Prix

Even though he had momentum from his sprint win and pole position, Sunday didn’t go as Marc Marquez would have wanted.

An early crash took him out of contention, opening the door for his brother Alex Marquez to take the win.

But even more crucially, Marco Bezzecchi took second place, which widened the gap between them again after Marquez had brought it down to just 24 points earlier in the weekend.

The crash will have stung, especially with how close he was getting to Bezzecchi in the title race. Still, despite how things look right now, Marquez isn’t likely to count himself out just yet. He’s come back from worse before.

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