Marquez, Acosta penalised following COTA Sprint

Post race rulings reshape the outcome of Saturday’s Sprint in Austin, with a long-lap penalty also handed down

Marc Marquez has been given a long lap penalty for causing the opening lap accident with Fabio di Giannantonio in Saturday’s COTA MotoGP Sprint. The penalty is a further blow to the reigning world champion’s hopes of claiming an eighth COTA MotoGP victory on Sunday.

Starting from pole, di Giannantonio lost ground after being pushed wide by Pedro Acosta at Turn 1. The VR46 Ducati rider then swiftly re passed Marquez for third place, but Marquez later said he was caught out by the slipstream of the riders ahead on the long back straight.

Diving under di Giannantonio in the braking zone, the Italian gave Marquez room, but was taken down after the number 93 lost control and fell. The FIM Stewards’ verdict confirmed that Marquez caused a crash involving rider number 49 and has received a long lap penalty for his next grand prix race. Even before the official announcement, Marquez accepted that he should be penalised for the incident.

Pedro Acosta has also been penalised after being stripped of third place in Saturday’s US MotoGP Sprint due to a post race tyre pressure breach. The Red Bull KTM rider received the standard eight second sanction, dropping him to eighth place, after failing to meet the required 30 percent of laps above the minimum pressure.

The penalty promotes fellow KTM rider Enea Bastianini onto the podium, delivering the Italian his best result since last year’s Catalunya round.

UPDATED 2026 MOTOGP COTA SPRINT RACE