Valentino Rossi has taken his three-point penalty following the clash with Marc Marquez at Sepang to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in the hope it will overturn the stewards’ decision or at least put it on hold until after the Valencia round.

Rossi’s penalty points were added to an existing race direction decision and the total means he has to start from the back of the grid on Sunday but the CAS may put offer a stay of execution.

An FIM statement said: “On the basis of Article 3.4.2, para 3 of the FIM Road Racing World Championship Grand Prix Regulations, Mr Valentino Rossi has filed an Appeal against the decision taken by the Race Direction of the Shell Malaysia Motorcycle Grand Prix in Sepang, penultimate round of the FIM MotoGP Grand Prix World Championship, and confirmed by the FIM Stewards, to award 3 penalty points to Mr Rossi following an incident on Turn 14.

“In appealing to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), Mr Rossi seeks annulment or reduction of the penalty. He further requests stay of execution of the decision in accordance with Article R37 of the Code of Sports-Related Arbitration.”