Rossi appeals Valencia penalty

[Blade]

A decision on Rossi’s request for a stay is expected to be issued no later than 6 November 2015.

On the basis of Article 3.4.2, para 3 of the FIM Road Racing World Championship Grand Prix Regulations, Mr Valentino Rossi has filed an Appeal against the decision taken by the Race Direction of the Shell Malaysia Motorcycle Grand Prix in Sepang, penultimate round of the FIM MotoGP Grand Prix World Championship, and confirmed by the FIM Stewards, to award 3 penalty points to Mr Rossi following an incident on Turn 14.

In appealing to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), Mr Rossi seeks annulment or reduction of the penalty. He further requests stay of execution of the decision in accordance with Article R37 of the Code of Sports-Related Arbitration.

The FIM will not comment any further at this time.

[Blade]

If Rossi wins the stay of execution he won't have to start from the back of the grid.

Then even if CAS decides to up hold the 3 penalty points they would have to be appiled next season.

[D6]

he can start from pole, but has to be on a scooter.

[Blade]

Normally, the CAS takes between 6 and 12 months to handle cases, and because it takes so long, Rossi has appealed for a temporary suspension of the penalty, under section R37 of CAS’ procedural rules.

Under that rule, Rossi can claim that upholding the penalty will cause “irreparable harm” to his MotoGP career and season. Two other factors are also taken into account: firstly, the merits of the claim, and lastly, whether Rossi’s interests are greater than those of Race Direction, who imposed the penalty upon him.

Under CAS rules, they will have to consult with Race Direction before ruling on whether or not to suspend Rossi’s penalty.

The goal of the request for a suspension of the penalty is simple. By having the three-point penalty suspended, Rossi will not have to start from the back of the grid, having collected just a single penalty point outside of Sepang this year. He would start from the position in which he qualifies.

If Rossi should then lose the case when the full CAS hearing is held, then the penalty would be applied at the next race after the CAS rules. That would likely be at the earliest in the first part of the 2016 MotoGP season.

Theoretically, if Rossi were to retire after his contract expires in 2016, and the CAS take 12 months or more to issue a ruling, Rossi may end up not being penalized at all.

If the request for suspension is denied, then the grid penalty will be applied at Valencia, and Rossi will start from the back of the grid. If he subsequently goes on to win the appeal at the CAS, the penalty points would be subtracted retrospectively.

However, given the fact that Rossi would have had to start from the back of the grid, winning the appeal would be meaningless in terms of the 2015 season.

What is the likely outcome of the request for suspension? It is very hard to say. Rossi has a case when he says that being forced to start from the back of the grid would cause him irreparable harm. However, that was precisely the point of Race Direction imposing this penalty, a case they will make for not granting the suspension.

That will be the basis of the decision on whether Rossi’s interests outweigh Race Direction’s, as the penalty was meant to provide a specific punishment.

Whether the CAS will decide that Rossi’s claim has any merits is not clear. As the original decision of Race Direction was upheld by the FIM Stewards, the balance appears to be against Rossi. The CAS will make a ruling before or on November, 6th 2015, in time for qualifying at Valencia.

To simplify the situation, here is a timeline of what has happened, and what happens next:

After the collision at Sepang, Race Direction imposed a penalty of three penalty points on Valentino Rossi.Those points brought Rossi’s total to four, meaning he must start Valencia from the back of the grid.Rossi appealed against the decision by Race Direction to the FIM Stewards.The FIM Stewards upheld the decision by Race Direction, meaning that the three penalty points stand.Rossi has appealed that decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS), who will take between 6 and 12 months to hear the case.Because the penalty will affect the outcome of the 2015 championship, Rossi has appealed for the penalty to be suspended until the CAS makes its final ruling.If the CAS suspend the penalty, Rossi will start the Valencia race from the position in which he qualifies.If the CAS refuse to suspend the penalty, Rossi will start the Valencia race from the back of the grid.The CAS will give a final ruling on the case once the hearings are finished, at some point 6 to 12 months in the future.No appeal is possible against the ruling of the CAS, unless at some point, the whole procedure is found to have breached Swiss law.

In a further twist, the CAS rules allow third parties to be involved in the case. Theoretically, that would allow Jorge Lorenzo, or even Marc Marquez to get involved in the case. As the current situation has already devolved into a PR disaster for Yamaha, having Lorenzo involved would only make things worse.

[Kwacky]

The link for the full article here:-

https://motomatters.com/news/2015/10/30 ... lty_t.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;