An eight-second penalty has been awarded to Fabio Quartararo in the Spanish MotoGP Sprint for breaking tyre pressure rules, promoting Dani Pedrosa to third place.

Quartararo had come from 23rd on the grid to cross the line third, just ahead of Pedrosa who was unaware he was fighting for a podium, as shown in footage posted to social media by thr Red Bull KTM Factory Racing team.

The #20 Yamaha rider he spent much of the final part of the race unexpectedly with clear air in front of him, after a flurry of crashes among the leaders, including for Marc Marquez, Maverick Vinales, Alex Marquez, Enea Bastianini, and Brad Binder.

After the race, Quartararo was found to have run above the minimum front tyre pressure of 1.80 bar for less than 60 per cent of the race's laps, which is the new minimum portion of the race that the riders must maintain at least the 1.80-bar minimum pressure.

Quartararo's penalty drops him to 15.052 seconds behind Spanish Grand Prix Sprint winner Jorge Martin, meaning he is now classified fifth, while Pedrosa moves up to third and Franco Morbidelli is promoted to fourth.

Earlier this year, MotoGP updated its tyre pressure rule to mean that the planned disqualification for breaches was dropped in favour of time penalties, as well as changing the threshold for legality from 50 per cent of the race's laps to 60 per cent, and lowering the minimum pressure from 1.88 bar to 1.80 bar. In the Sprint, a breach of the rule will earn the rider an eight-second time penalty, while a breach in a Grand Prix (twice the length of a Sprint) will see the rider awarded with a 16-second penalty.

There were also penalties for Jack Miller, Alex Rins, and Fabio Di Giannantonio, who all crashed and remounted, as well as for Raul Fernandez.