The rule regarding the minimum tyre pressure limit was introduced at the MotoGP British GP, and it claimed its first «victim» this Sunday: Aleix Espargaró violated the parameters and received a three-second penalty in the Thai GP.
The Aprilia rider finished the Buriram race in fifth place, but with the penalty, he dropped to eighth in the final standings. The front tyre must have no less than 1.7 bar of pressure, which increases to 1.9 bar for the rear tyre.
With this penalty, Espargaró committed his second violation. The regulations specify that the first time would result in a warning, the second time would lead to a three-second penalty, which would increase to six seconds for the third infraction and reach 12 seconds if a fourth irregularity occurred.
Espargaró wasn’t the only one to draw the attention of the race officials due to tyre pressure in Thailand. The race winner, Jorge Martín (Prima Pramac/Ducati), and Marc Márquez (Repsol Honda) also exceeded the limits, but as it was the first time for each of them, they received only a warning.