Marc Marquez has conceded that his Thai MotoGP Sprint pass on Pedro Acosta, for which he was penalised, was “obviously a borderline move”.
Acosta ran wide after light contact from the reigning MotoGP champion as they battled for the lead at the final corner of the penultimate lap.
The incident was put under investigation by the FIM Stewards, who then gave Marquez a ‘drop one place’ penalty – the lightest in-race penalty available – with around 30-seconds of the race remaining.
The penalty notice read: “Causing contact with another rider when overtaking and gaining unfair advantage through it, resulting in a position change.”
Marquez only had to allow Acosta ahead momentarily to clear the penalty, but kept the lead until the final corner, where he sat up and gifted victory to the surprised KTM rider.
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“I entered the finish line like, what is going on?” said Acosta.
In an interview with sponsor Estrella Galicia 0,0, Marquez said he saw the penalty notice “in the penultimate corner”, which is followed by a short straight and braking zone for the last turn.
“We managed to arrive leading at the final corner, but I had to serve the penalty that was notified to me in the penultimate corner, which was when I saw the message on the dashboard,” Marc Marquez said.
“So, there was nothing else I could do but serve it – we simply follow the Stewards’ rules.”
Marc Marquez, Pedro Acosta, 2026 Thai MotoGP Sprint race.
© Gold and Goose
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“Obviously, it was a borderline move”
The decision to penalise Marquez has been the subject of heated debate.
Ducati team manager Davide Tardozzi made his feelings clear at the time: “Marc didn’t touch Pedro. He didn’t go out of the race track. So, I think it’s unfair.”
However, both Marquez and Acosta later confirmed there had been contact.
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Although visibly disappointed in the aftermath, Marquez said he would not meet with the Stewards, the normal course of action if a rider feels unfairly treated.
In the Estrella interview, Marquez explained: “If the Stewards set the limit somewhere, we must adapt.
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“Obviously, it was a borderline move. Could it be penalised? Yes, or maybe not?
“The one who gets the penalty will always say no, and the other rider might say yes.
“However, in motorcycle racing, especially in the last two laps, the level of aggression always goes up a bit, and everyone tries to defend as much as possible.
“I’m still proud of how the race was.”
Although Marquez cites ‘the last two laps’, the long-established criteria for the FIM Stewards is that harder passes are only allowed on the final lap.
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As such, if Marquez had made the same pass on Acosta a lap later, he would probably have avoided a penalty…
Marc Marquez’s wheel rim, 2026 Thai MotoGP.
© Gold and Goose
“I woke up feeling off, a survival race”
The nine-time world champion went on to suffer a very different kind of drama in the grand prix, spearing off track due to wheel rim damage while chasing down a podium finish.
“I already saw in the warm-up that I woke up feeling off, with little strength, and I understood exactly how I had to manage the race,” Marquez said.
“So, I treated it as a survival race. That’s why I tried to manage myself physically at the beginning, as well as the tyres, so that in the last ten laps I could launch an attack from wherever I was, then push for some good laps and recover.”
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“I was doing it, but in Turn 4, while trying to take the safe option – which was to give up the corner, run through the run-off and rejoin – instead we punctured the rear tyre, something that had never happened before.
“We had that bit of bad luck, but I was feeling good and, if nothing unusual had happened in the final laps, we would have celebrated the Grand Prix on the podium.”
The Sprint penalty and Sunday retirement meant Marquez left Thailand having scored just nine out of a possible 37 points.
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