FIM President: If I were Marc Marquez, I would accept the penalty and not appeal

President of the International Motorcycle Federation (FIM) Jorge Viegas spoke about the penalty given to Honda rider Marc Marquez. The eight-time world champion received a double long lap penalty after crashing into Aprilia racer Miguel Oliveira at the opening race of the 2023 season, the Portuguese GP.

The racer who is identical to number 93 initially had to serve a penalty at the Argentina GP, but because he was absent, Marquez had to serve a penalty after he returned.

Honda appealed and the MotoGP Court of Appeals has yet to render a final ruling on whether Marquez will be penalized at the next race. Jorge Viegas, president of the FIM said that the penalty for Marquez was actually clear.

“The situation is clear. Marc did what he did and agreed to the penalty,” Viegas told MotoSprint.

“The Steward Panel wrote the sanction was not clear, so I asked them to make it clearer. The Honda team finally appealed, so I personally spoke with Puig (Honda team manager Alberto Puig),” he added.

Viegas said the final decision regarding Marquez’s penalty would be made soon. He also regretted a little regarding Honda and Marquez’s decision to appeal, which created the perception that Marquez was trying to avoid punishment.

“The appeal was well done, so the ball fell into the hands of the FIM judges. The decision will come soon. Personally if I were Marc I would accept the penalty, without appealing,” said Viegas.

“Now he’s giving people the opportunity to think that he doesn’t want to serve a sentence. That’s not good.” he added.

Several Spanish media reported that Honda’s appeal would be successful. The reason is, before Marquez signed the sanction letter, he repeatedly asked the stewards if the penalty was only for Argentina, and they answered “yes”.

Currently, Marc Marquez has just collected 7 points from the sprint race at the Portuguese GP. The biological brother of Alex Marquez is 57 points behind the current standings leader Marco Bezzecchi from Mooney VR46 Racing Team.

The next race takes place at the Jerez Circuit, Spanish GP this weekend. Honda has also yet to confirm whether Marquez will be able to return to Jerez after his recovery from hand surgery.