Contact part of the sport — MotoGP chief

VALENCIA — Contact is part of motorcycling, the president of the Federation of International Motorcycling (FIM) Vito Ippolito said Friday as he addressed the infamous collision between Valentino Rossi and Marc Marquez at the Malaysian Grand Prix. Rossi will start Sunday's season-ending Valencia Grand Prix from the back of the grid as he attempts to land a record-equaling eighth premier category world title after being adjudged to have kicked Marquez off his bike in a heated race two weeks ago in Malaysia. "Motorcycling is not a contact sport, but contact is part of it," Ippolito told AFP. "If not, we would see processions not races." However, he claimed "too many people had added fuel to the fire" since the collision. The collision and subsequent sanction caused outrage in both Spain and Italy with even the prime ministers of each country intervening to back their respective countrymen. The sanction could well cost Rossi the title. No matter who emerges from Sunday's race as world champion, though, Ippolito wants MotoGP to be the winner after a damaging couple of weeks for the sport's image that will provoke changes to the rules for next year. In particular, Ippolito wants more leeway written into the regulations to judge every case on its merits instead of automatic sanctions for certain acts. "Currently our system is similar to that of penalty points with the inequalities it creates. A drunken man is penalized for speeding in the same way that a husband who takes his wife who is about to give birth urgently to the hospital! "In the race, it's totally different. We must judge that fact and thus avoid that the penalty is automatic", he explained. For the past three seasons race stewards have been able to impose between one- and 10-point penalties for each infringement. Lorenzo fastest Jorge Lorenzo made the perfect start as he aims to pip Yamaha teammate Valentino Rossi to his third MotoGP world title at the season-ending Valencia Grand Prix this weekend by going fastest in practice Friday. Lorenzo's time of 1min 31.111sec was nearly four-tenths quicker than Rossi, who could only register the fifth fastest time of the day. Marquez admitted earlier in the week it had been impossible to prepare for the final race of the season as normal after the controversy his clash with Rossi had produced, with even the Spanish and Italian Prime Ministers interjecting to offer backing to their respective countrymen. The Honda rider shrugged off those concerns to register the quickest lap in the first practice session of the day. However, Marquez couldn't improve on his morning run in the second session leaving him 0.139sec off Lorenzo's time in second. — Agencies