Franco Morbidelli: ‘Different race’ after Marquez ‘touch’, 'speed is there'
"From then on, my r👍ace was a completely different🌼 one."
Starting sixth on the grid, 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Franco Morbidelli gained a place in the first turn of Sunday's Japanese MotoGP.
However, when Marc Marquez launched an inside pass on the Pramac Ducati rider into Turn 2, Morbidelli was sent wide on the exit and d👍own to eighth place🙈.
That becam🧔e seventh when Pedro Acosta crashed out, but it took Morbidelli until lap 8 of 24 to overtake the late-braking KTM of🙈 Jack Miller.
The Italian then spent most of the remaining laps trying to find a way past the sister RC16 of Brad Binder, finally passed the South African for fifth place with three laps t𓆏o go.
“It was a strong race, a good per💞formance,” Morbidelli said. “I got a good start, but I got touched by Marc in Turn 2. I went out [over the kerb] and lost some positions.
“From then on, my race w🧸as a completely different one. It was a matter of recovering and trying to get ahead of the KTMs, which🌃 are very difficult to overtake. They brake very deep and accelerate very strongly.
“I lost a l🐽ot of time behind Jack, but I had a good fight with Jack and then Brad. So it was a fighting race and we were able to get P5, which is another strong ending to a weekend.”
Morbi🤡delli feels he could have been in podium contention, without the Marquez tangle.&n🎶bsp;
But the #21 also made clear that, with overtaking diffic🌸ult, the kind of🐠 aggressive early surge by Marquez and his own Pramac team-mate Jorge Martin is essential for a good result.
“Fight for the podium, that was the aim,” Morbidelli said. “The difference between making Pꦬ5 and making P3-2-1 ღis very small. You see how the riders that start behind and have the positivity or the courage to make [progress] in the first laps, then stay there.
“It's really difficult to be seventh-eighth in the first 3 laps and then catch up and go onꦯ the podium. You need to catch up in the first lap. Make your own way in the first lap. And this weekend, Marc and Jorge were really good to do t🐓hat.”
After top-five finishes in the las𒀰t three rounds, what more does Morbidelli need to claim his first Moto🌠GP podium since 2021?
“We need to put everything together. Qualifying, good start, not getting touched or not touching anybody in the first laps, being aggressive in the first laps. Because I tend to lose some posi♛tions in the first laps, apart from Mandalika," he said.
“So it's a matter of pಌutting everything toget♐her. The speed is there.”
Morbidelli, who missed all of pre-season testing due to a head injury, is now 𝄹u♎p to eighth in the world championship.
Peter has been in the paddock꧒ for 20 years and has seen Valentino Rossi come and 𓆏go. He is at the forefront of the Suzuki exit story and Marc Marquez’s injury issues.
