Receiving a sanction from MotoGP, Valentino Rossi was penalized for cutting off his teammate during a tight corner that caused Jorge Lorenzo to slow down during the final moments of the San Marino Grand Prix qualifier.
This was the final lap of the qualifier and Lorenzo was coming in hot as he flew down the track, hoping to improve his pole time and even become the very first MotoGP racer to beat the 1 minute and 31 seconds barrier in the Misano circuit, but that dream was short lived when he came up to Rossi.
Rossi was going rather quickly, but let back on the throttle when the two were running around the penultimate corner. Lorenzo claimed that this caused him to pull back on the throttle and slow down, which affected his time and slowed him down. If Lorenzo hadn’t pulled back, he would have collided with Rossi and the pair most likely would have crashed.
As a result, Rossi received a penalty point that didn’t affect the world championship tally. Rossi still holds a 12 point lead in front of Jorge Lorenzo, but there are still six races remaining that could change up the score.
Rossi managed to qualify in third, and ended up releasing an apology to Lorenzo after the session had ended. The two teammates ended up sharing a couple laughs and seemed to be over the whole ordeal. There were no hard feelings and the incident appeared to have been completed accidental, with Rossi not intentionally trying to slow Lorenzo down.
This was the full statement released by the MotoGP Directors:
“Race Direction has decided to impose Valentino Rossi (MotoGP rider 46) the addition of 1 Penalty Point to his record, according to Article 3.2.1. of the FIM Road Racing World Championship Grand Prix Disciplinary and Arbitration Code because he was riding slowly close to the racing line, thereby disturbing another rider on a fast lap. The Decision is final.”