Espargaro calls British MotoGP’s long penalty lap a ‘joke’

The Yamaha pilot will receive a penalty after the crash from Espargar during the Dutch TT in Assen, trying to overtake his championship rival for the last time.

But the Aprilia rider, who is second in the standings and just 21 points adrift, says the riders are losing “just eight-tenths” while serving the penalty at Silverstone, compared to “3.2s in Barcelona”.

Espargaro said: “It’s a joke. I don’t want to complain about the long lap because it seems like I’m saying it because my opponent has a penalty for a long lap.

“But it’s a joke, you lose eight tenths of it. Today he tried and lost only eight tenths.

“We have to be more professional about it. Long circle is a soft penalty, I like that penalty. It’s a show, it’s nice.

“But if they say it’s three seconds, it should be three seconds everywhere. If it’s 2.5 seconds in one place, that’s fine. But eight tenths, it’s funny. But it doesn’t matter.

“Even if it was two seconds, Jack [Miller] proved this year [at Assen] that you can do a long lap and fight for the podium. Therefore, [I] imagine Fabio [can do the same].”

The Aprilia rider, who finished fourth in Assen despite the crash, said he “doesn’t think it’s that difficult to do a proper penalty for a long lap”.

He added: “You see a long lap penalty one meter off the track on a proper layout. It’s easy to enforce a long lap penalty, but I don’t know what they did [here at Silverstone].”

Despite his complaints, Espargaro said the long lap was “better for show” and a “good invention” as it was introduced to reduce the need for expensive fines for minor offences.

“We have to remember it’s a show and it’s nice to have a long lap penalty,” he said. “We make a lot of noise about the long lap penalty. In the end, it’s nothing. I think it’s a good penalty.

“In the past, you would make a false start, you would have to make a pass and the race would be a disaster.

“Now when you do a long lap, you put on a better show. It’s good, I think it’s a good invention.

“But we have to be serious about the long lap penalty. I don’t think it’s that difficult. Someone comes with a superbike, tries it. If fast, make it stronger. You can half a second difference, but not 3.2s in Barcelona to 0.8s here.”