{"id":657890,"date":"2026-05-08T14:33:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T14:33:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/657890\/"},"modified":"2026-05-08T14:33:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T14:33:08","slug":"johann-zarco-punished-for-unsafe-practice-start-at-le-mans-motogp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/657890\/","title":{"rendered":"Johann Zarco punished for \u2018unsafe\u2019 practice start at Le Mans MotoGP"},"content":{"rendered":"

Johann Zarco has been fined for breaching MotoGP\u2019s practice start rules following opening practice at Le Mans.<\/p>\n

LCR Honda’s <\/a>defending home winner completed the session in fourth place, setting his best lap time on a used tyre, before his practice start was deemed \u201cunsafe and potentially dangerous\u201d.<\/p>\n

The penalty notice from the FIM MotoGP<\/a> Stewards highlights that riders must not \u2018stop, move forward, and stop again during practice starts\u2019.<\/p>\n

In other words, once a rider initiates a practice start, they cannot stop and have a second attempt. This is to avoid the risk of being hit by a rider accelerating behind them.<\/p>\n

Fortunately for Zarco, the penalty is only financial, a 1000-euro fine, and will not impact his hopes this weekend.<\/p>\n

Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n

Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n

Johann Zarco\u2019s<\/a> penalty notice can be seen below:<\/p>\n

‘On 8th May 2026, at 11:36:40 during the MotoGP\u2122 Practice Start session of the MICHELIN\u00ae GRAND PRIX OF FRANCE your actions did not comply with the \u201cNotice to All MotoGP\u2122 Teams\u201d information provided.<\/p>\n

‘In particular, we highlighted that riders must not stop, move forward, and stop again during practice starts, as this behaviour is considered unsafe and potentially dangerous.<\/p>\n

‘This contravenes the specific instructions given to all team\/competitors. It is therefore an infringement of Article 3.3.2.2 of the FIM Grand Prix World Championship Regulations<\/p>\n

Sanction<\/p>\n

Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n

Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n

‘For the above reasons the FIM MotoGP\u2122 Stewards Panel has imposed on you a fine of 1000 Euros. (in accordance with articles 3.2.1 and 3.3.2.3 of the FIM Grand Prix World Championship Regulations).’<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, fellow Honda rider Luca Marini<\/a>, fastest on new tyres at the end of FP1, was unable to take part in the practice start period due to a technical issue.
\u00a0<\/p>\n

Subscribe to our MotoGP Newsletter<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Johann Zarco has been fined for breaching MotoGP\u2019s practice start rules following opening practice at Le Mans. LCR…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":657891,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[572],"tags":[64,63,15612,15613,5745,806,805,803,804,85],"class_list":["post-657890","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-motosport","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-johann-zarco","tag-lcr-honda","tag-motogp","tag-motor","tag-motor-sports","tag-motosport","tag-motosports","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/657890","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=657890"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/657890\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/657891"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=657890"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=657890"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=657890"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}