Controversy on the Track: MotoGP Race Director Explains Marc Marquez’s Pole Lap Cancellation at Japanese GP

MotoGP's race director provides a detailed account of the Marc Marquez track limits dispute. Mike Webb offers a comprehensive explanation regarding the cancellation of Marc Marquez's Q2 lap, as reported by Crash.net.

Dorna Sports has published a comprehensive statement from MotoGP race director Mike Webb, offering an in-depth explanation for the delay in canceling Marc Marquez’s pole position lap at the Japanese Grand Prix.

During the final moments of the Q2 session on Saturday morning at Motegi, the Gresini team rider clocked a lap time of 1 minute and 42.868 seconds, initially securing the provisional pole position. However, this lap was later invalidated due to a breach of track boundaries.

The lap time remained on the board initially and wasn't officially announced as invalid until after the race ended, leaving Marquez without an opportunity to attempt a valid lap.

Because of the raindrops that began to fall towards the end of the second qualifying session, Marquez mentioned that he didn’t see any point in trying to improve after his first lap, which was timed at 1m42.868s. Consequently, he ended up securing the ninth position in qualifying.

The Gresini team was extremely upset about the postponement in calling off the event, which has been attributed to a malfunction in the system responsible for alerting track limits violations.

Sensors are used to monitor track limits in the green-painted run-off zones to prevent racers from gaining unfair advantages by crossing into these areas.

This automates the cancellation of laps and the corresponding notifications. However, during Marquez's session in Q2 at Motegi, a software error required the stewards to record this lap by hand.

After Crash.net reached out to Dorna, race director Webb issued an official statement, which read:

"The instant activation of the track limits sensor results in the automatic nullification of any lap."

The FIM MotoGP Stewards promptly logged it into the system; however, a software error disrupted this procedure. As a result, the lap had to be canceled manually, leading to a delay in the notification.

This marks the inaugural instance of this occurrence amid the numerous track limits violations examined annually.

"The source of the error has been identified, and the system has been modified to prevent it from recurring."

On Saturday afternoon, Marquez managed to secure a third-place finish in the sprint race, even though he began from a disadvantageous starting position.

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