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Marc Marquez deserved penalty at Mugello - Danilo Petrucci

Pramac Ducati rider Danilo Petrucci believes Honda rival Marc Marquez should have been penalised for their run-in on the opening lap of the Mugello MotoGP race.

After making a lightning start but running wide at the first corner, Marquez lunged aggressively down the inside of third-placed Petrucci at the following Luco left-hander - forcing the Italian to the asphalt run-off.

MotoGP announced in the aftermath of Marquez's clashes with Valentino Rossi and Aleix Espargaro at Termas de Rio Hondo in April that it would be imposing tougher penalties, and Petrucci, who dropped down to 10th as the result of the incident in Mugello, believes Marquez's move warranted action from the stewards.

Asked what sanction he wanted to see, Petrucci replied: "I don't know, I'm not the race director - but I think the race director should do something.

"Because in the safety commission in Austin [after Argentina] we say that if a rider ruins another rider's race, they should be penalised.

"And, I don't know, I was third and then 10th a corner later. He put me out of the track and I was quite lucky that the run-off area was asphalt.

"Because if it was the corner later, I was on the gravel and maybe crashing."

Petrucci had himself come under fire for aggressive riding in the past, and faced criticism from Espargaro after the Argentina race that provoked the recent controversy.

"I did not do the same thing, because Espargaro didn't go out of the track in Argentina - and I was called like a killer," Petrucci said. "So I don't know. I'm not always complaining, but you waste the work of a lot of people."

While Marquez crashed out shortly afterwards, Petrucci fought through the pack and ran third for several laps only to eventually slump to seventh.

He felt Marquez's move had compromised his strategy, saying: "we missed an opportunity, and half of the race was ruined by the first lap."

Marquez, for his part, felt the situation was "difficult to control" within the chaos of the opening lap.

"On Turn 2, we were three bikes together [with Andrea Iannone]. I realised that Petrucci went in so quick and I realised that I [would be] just touching him from the back, and then if I'm touching him from the back we will crash together.

"Then I tried to go in [on the inside], of course we lose time a lot, he lost more than me - but it's something that in Turn 2, it's so difficult to control on the start."

Zdroj: autosport.com