Aprilia says past incidents prompted appeal against Marco Bezzecchi’s Czech GP ban

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Aprilia says it chose to appeal against Marco Bezzecchi’s ban from the Czech Grand Prix due to previous incidents in which other riders received more lenient sanctions for physical misconduct.

The championship leader was excluded from Sunday’s race at Brno after striking a marshal towards the end of the sprint. The Italian was irked by the track worker accidentally revving up the engine of his stricken bike while trying to lift it from the gravel.

Footage of the incident quickly spread online, with Bezzecchi widely condemned for his actions.

But just a few hours after the penalty was announced, Aprilia lodged an appeal against the decision, with both motorsport chief Massimo Rivola and team manager Paolo Bonora attending the hearing.

The appeal was thrown out by the stewards, who upheld the original decision to ban him from the race.

Speaking after the grand prix on Sunday, Rivola made it clear that Aprilia does not tolerate violence as he joined Bezzecchi in apologising for the incident. He clarified that the appeal was not aimed at avoiding responsibility but seeking a more lenient sporting penalty.

The Italian cited a three-year-old incident where then-Aprilia rider Aleix Espargaro received a much smaller punishment for hitting Franco Morbidelli’s helmet in Qatar.

“First of all, apologies to the marshal,” he said. “Second, we are for zero tolerance, so I'm fine with that and we accept it.

“The reason why we did the appeal was because in the past, there were cases much lower than that but still spectacular, like the one of Aleix with Morbidelli.

“That was a 10,000 euros [fine] and [a] six grid position [drop]. So, my thought was maybe this is a bit too harsh: ‘We want to see him racing, give him a big fine, give him a great position, but let him race because it never happened in the past.’

“But if this is the way to go, I'm fine, I agree. We set the precedent that it's good to follow.”

Asked if he regretted appealing the decision because of the message it could send, Rivola replied: “No, because at the end I need to protect my team and my riders.

“I would love to see them racing rather than not, and I've never seen this done in the past.”

Marco Bezzecchi, Aprilia Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography / Getty Images

Rivola has had to deal with some difficult internal dynamics in 2026, with both Bezzecchi and team-mate Jorge Martin engaged in the title fight.

In Barcelona, he had to deal with the fallout of a clash between Martin and Raul Fernandez on the Trackhouse Aprilia - an accident that led to an angry Martin shoving Bonora after he returned to the garage.

In Hungary, Martin crashed at the start and took out both Bezzecchi and Fernandez with him, with Rivola publicly criticising the first-named for the consequences of his error.

Asked whether it is difficult to manage riders in such a high-pressure environment, he said: "These are riders that put everything they have, with heart, with everything they have. Although it may look stupid to say, I love to work with riders that give everything they have.

“Clearly, we have a margin to improve, also from my side, with them. It's a good lesson for me.”

Past cases of aggression

While rare, there have been some cases of riders getting violent in the heat of the moment.

Several times, riders have been seen pushing marshals after a crash. Bezzecchi himself got a 1000 euro fine at Valencia in 2012 for shoving a marshal after his bike caught fire during practice.

Moto2 rider Romano Fenati was infamously banned for two races after grabbing Stefano Manzi’s brake lever during a heated battle at Misano in 2018.

The last time a grand prix rider was suspended from a race was 2021, when Deniz Oncu was banned from two rounds for causing a pile-up at Austin.

In Formula 1, Max Verstappen was ordered to complete two days of community service for an altercation with Esteban Ocon in the pitlane during the 2018 Brazilian GP.