Marc Marquez’s surreal MotoGP sprint win at Jerez owed a lot to a creative interpretation of the track - but why was it allowed?

Marquez had already made what was set to be the race-losing decision - staying out on track behind his brother Alex on slicks as the rain came in - when he immediately fell at the final corner.

But this inadvertently set him on the right strategy. All he needed to do now - after waiting for the field to pass - was cut across the pit entry grass and join the pit entry road, then swap to the wet bike.

The crash aside, the pitstop on that lap, eight of 12, was crucial - Brad Binder was the first rider to dive into the pits that time by, and he would've very comfortably won the race had he avoided crashing after his return to the track.

Even with that, the podium ended up fully consisting of lap-eight stoppers - Marquez, Ducati team-mate Pecco Bagnaia and VR46’s Franco Morbidelli.

Though Marquez's route to the pitlane looked highly unusual, it was explained afterwards that it “did not violate any rule”.

He did not touch the green paint (denoting track limits) on pitlane entry - because that is on the left-hand side - and observed the speed limit.

While there is an instruction against “crossing the white line”, this is on pit exit, not pit entry. And while riders are required to follow marshal instructions after crashing, there was no instruction issued to Marquez - and certainly no command not to cut across the pit entry grass.

The way the race shook out means a 12-point swing in favour of Marquez in the title race relative to Aprilia works riders Marco Bezzecchi and Jorge Martin - though the pair are still 24 and 20 points ahead respectively despite both retiring from the Jerez sprint.