Marc Marquez has been relegated to seventh on the grid for tomorrow’s Malaysian Grand Prix after receiving a penalty for irresponsible riding during qualifying. The world champion was adjudged to have impeded Andrea Iannone’s Suzuki during the closing minutes of Q2, with the penalty promoting Johann Zarco onto pole position.
The incident occurred moments after Marquez had crashed at turn four, the Spaniard remounting before going back out on his second bike. It was here that Marc was adjudged to have held up Iannone on his out lap, riding slowly on the racing line at turn nine while the Suzuki rider was on a timed lap.
Marc appeared to be unaware of Iannone’s whereabouts, initially looking over his right shoulder while the no.29 passed him on the left, gesturing angrily. With Marquez having committed the same offence in Texas earlier this season, a second offence triggers an automatic six-place grid penalty for tomorrow’s race.
The race day schedule has also been altered due to forecasts of monsoon-like downpours late on Sunday afternoon. In an effort to dodge the worst of the weather, the entire programme has been brought forward by two hours, meaning the Moto3 race will begin at 10am local time, followed by Moto2 at 11:20am LT and MotoGP at 1pm LT.
For a full round-up of the qualifying session, click here.
