Marquez’s Narrow Escape: Just 0.036 Seconds Saved His Japanese GP Podium Finish

Unveiled: Marc Marquez narrowly avoided missing out on a podium finish at the Japan MotoGP by just 0.036 seconds. It was a near miss for the Gresini Ducati racer at the Motegi circuit.

Marc Marquez secured the third position at the 2024 MotoGP Japanese Grand Prix, narrowly avoiding a drop to fourth place, as he was only 0.036 seconds ahead of Enea Bastianini.

Starting from ninth place on the grid, Marquez managed to climb up the ranks to secure a third-place finish in the sprint race. He repeated this impressive performance on Sunday during the 24-lap grand prix.

The Gresini competitor successfully held off Ducati’s Bastianini during the latter part of the race, managing to maintain a slight lead over him right up to the finish line.

At the end of the race, the difference between the two competitors was 0.536 seconds. However, Marquez was only 0.036 seconds away from needing to relinquish his spot to Bastianini.

During the last lap, Marquez went beyond the track boundaries at Turn 4 as he was leading Bastianini in their fight for third place (refer to the details below).

During the closing laps, if a rider goes beyond the track boundaries by entering areas painted green, they must forfeit a position unless they can demonstrate that leaving the track did not provide them with an advantage.

This is relevant in situations where a location is being hotly disputed.

According to the rules, a rider will only lose their position if they go beyond the track limits and are 0.5 seconds or less in front of the competitor trailing them.

In this instance, Marquez crossed the finish line 0.536 seconds ahead of Bastianini, leading to the conclusion that he did not achieve a considerable lead over Bastianini.

A summary from the stewards' activity report states: "In situations where riders are battling for a position and a track limit violation occurs on the final lap, which the stewards believe has impacted the race outcome, regardless of whether any position changes, the rider in question must demonstrate a significant disadvantage."

The rule for determining if a race is "closely contested" is when the riders are within 0.500 seconds of each other both during the incident and at the finish line.

Brad Binder was examined for a similar violation involving Marco Bezzecchi, as he exceeded the track boundaries at Turn 4 during the final lap.

However, since he was 0.869 seconds ahead of Bezzecchi, the KTM rider maintained his sixth-place position, as it was not considered a 'closely contested' situation.

Starting from ninth position on the grid, Marquez had initially secured a provisional pole position during qualifying, but his lap time was annulled due to a violation of track

Marquez was upset following the session as he received the penalty notice only after the race had concluded, which meant he didn't have the opportunity to attempt a valid time.

Race director Mike Webb later clarified that a system malfunction prevented the automatic recording of the canceled lap, which in turn led to a delay in the notification.

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