SEPANG (Malaysia), Feb 6 (NNN-Bernama) — Aprilla Racing MotoGP rider, Aleix Espargaro has apologised to the Malaysian government after the Spaniard allegedly breached the sports bubble protocol of the 2022 Winter Test here last Thursday.
Its team manager, Paolo Bonora said the rider had already written an apology letter to the Malaysian government on Friday over his mistake of violating standard operating procedures (SOP).
“He (Espargaro) did not know that he cannot exercise outside the circuit. He recognised the problem and had already made a public apology to the government,” he told reporters when met on the first day of the Winter Test at the Sepang International Circuit (SIC) here, Saturday.
An international portal (motorsport.com) had reported that the SIC issued a warning to MotoGP governing body FIM (Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme) after a rider was alleged to have breached the COVID-19 bubble protocol by going cycling near Putrajaya, which is about 35 kilometres (km) from the circuit.
According to the stipulated SOP, all teams and riders involved in the test are to be confined to a hotel and only allowed to commute to the circuit.
The COVID-19 pandemic had forced the Malaysian MotoGP to be cancelled for two consecutive years in 2020 and 2021.
The two-day 2022 Winter Test here ended Sunday.
— NNN-BERNAMA