Franco Morbidelli had an encouraging Sprint race in Barcelona, finishing in a promising sixth place. The Italian-Brazilian driver, however, expressed some regrets about his performance, notably due to premature wear of the front tires.
Franco Morbidelli regained its competitiveness during the Sprint
Race of the Barcelona Grand Prix, after a difficult start to the weekend. The Pramac driver put in a great performance by taking sixth place, behind his teammate and favorite for the title, Jorge Martin. This good result followed a more complicated path during qualifying, where Morbidelli had to go through Q1. After a good return in Q2, he finally took fifth place, on the second row of the starting grid.
During the Sprint race, Morbidelli got off to an excellent start, placing fourth, just behind
Martin et Enea Bastianini. However, after attempting to overtake on
Bastianinihe has reached his limits. “ Everything went very well in the first half of the race. It's incredible the big step we took between Friday and Saturday. I was at the start in 4th place, just behind Jorge and Enea. But during the first attack on Enea, I reached my limits. The front tire temperature was already too high and I slipped a few times.“, explained Morbidelli.
Franco Morbidelli: « regarding the fight for the title, I remain neutral »
Despite his efforts to overtake Bastianini,
Morbidelli had to let it pass Aleix Espargaró et Alex Marquez. In the end he managed to maintain sixth place, fighting hard against
Marc Marquez. « Towards the end, I had a great battle with Marc for sixth place – at least I won“, he commented.
In the context of the fight for the title,
Morbidelli took a clear position: “ one thing is certain: I wanted to overtake Enea because I saw a chance to get on the podium – and not because I wanted to protect Jorge from Enea. I'm not Jorge's bodyguard. As for the title fight, I remain neutral. The match against Enea was apart ; it was about our race and not the World Championship. But I won't get involved in what happens on the road between Jorge and Pecco. »
While Sunday will mark the end of the adventure of
Jorge Martin with Ducati,
Morbidellihe will continue his journey with the Bologna manufacturer as driver of the team
VR46 Racing.
Starting grid:
MotoGP Barcelona Sprint: standings
Championship:
- Jorge Martín becomes champion yes
- He finishes ninth or better, in the event that Bagnaia wins;
-
- He finishes at least 14th, if Bagnaia is second;
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- Bagnaia finishes third, regardless of Martín's result.
- Francesco Bagnaia devient champion yes
-
- He wins, and Martín finishes no better than tenth;
- He finished second, and Martín finished no better than 15th.
