Rossi Drops CAS Appeal

The Court of Arbitration for Sport has confirmed that 2015 MotoGP runner-up Valentino Rossi has officially withdrawn his appeal to have his penalty, given to him for his part in the infamous 'Sepang Clash', overturned.

The Italian lodged the appeal to CAS as so they could potentially offer a stay of execution on his grid penalty which came as the direct result of amassing four penalty points over the course of the 2015 season, three of those being awarded to him by Race Direction following his collision with Marc Marquez at turn fourteen of the seventh lap at the Malaysian Grand Prix. The stay of execution was not granted and thus Rossi started from the back of the grid at the season finale.

CAS released the following statement: “In his appeal to CAS, Mr Rossi sought the annulment of the penalty, or at least a reduction from 3 points to 1, since on the basis of the FIM Regulations, a rider with 4 penalty points must start the next race from last grid position. Together with his appeal, Mr Rossi filed an urgent application to stay the execution of the challenged decision in order not to lose his place on the starting grid at the final event of the season which was held in Valencia/Spain on 6-8 November 2015.

“On 5 November 2015, the Sole Arbitartor appointed by mutual agreement of the parties, Prof. Ulrich Haas (Germany), dismissed Valentino Rossi's request to stay the execution of the challenged decision. The Sole Arbitrator found that the conditions to grant the stay were not met, and accordingly, Valentino Rossi began the Valencia race from the last grid position.

“Mr Rossi has now informed the CAS that he does not wish to continue his appeal/ Accordingly, the arbitration procedure has been terminated and the FIM decision will continue to remain in force.”

This isn't at all surprising news as Rossi has no real need to continue with the appeal. Hopefully this does however mark the beginning of the Italian moving on from 2015 and turning his attention fully towards 2016, where it is expected he'll strike back even harder than he did this year.

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