Valentino Rossi appeal dismissed, will start last at Valencia

VALENTINO Rossi will officially start Sunday’s MotoGP race in last place after his legal bid to have his Malaysian GP penalty suspended was denied.

VALENTINO Rossi will officially start Sunday’s final race of the MotoGP season in last place after his legal bid to have his controversial Malaysian GP penalty suspended was denied.

Rossi was handed a rear of grid start by MotoGP race direction by dint of three rider penalty points for his clash with Marc Marquez during the Malaysian round a fortnight ago.

After an initial appeal by Rossi’s Yamaha team to the FIM was rejected, Rossi himself launched an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

Valentino Rossi has a challenging race on Sunday.

The nine-time world champion requested an annulment or a reduction in the severity of the penalty, and asked for a stay of execution of the penalty until his appeal could be heard.

Had Rossi’s motion been successful, he would have started the title-deciding race from wherever he qualified.

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However, the CAS dismissed his request on the eve of practice getting underway at Valencia.

“The CAS Arbitrator, appointed by mutual agreement of the parties (Professor Ulrich Haas/Germany), heard the representatives of Mr Rossi and FIM yesterday at the CAS office in Lausanne in order to rule exclusively on the urgent request for a stay to determine whether or not Valentino Rossi should start from last grid position in Valencia,” a statement from the CAS read.

“The CAS Arbitrator found that the conditions to grant the stay were not met, which means that the sanction imposed by FIM will have to be served at the next Grand Prix in Valencia.”

Valentino Rossi of Italy (R) looks on as teammate Jorge Lorenzo (L) of Spain addresses a press conference.

Rossi enters the race with a seven-point lead over Yamaha teammate Jorge Lorenzo.

Lorenzo will win the title if he places first or second and Rossi does not finish immediately behind him, while a third placing would see Rossi only need to finish as high as sixth.

Practice gets underway at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo on Friday.