Franco Morbidelli: ‘Different race’ after Marquez ‘touch’, 'speed is there'
"From then on, my race was a completely different one."
Starting sixth on the grid, 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 down to eighth place.
That became 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 to go.
“It was a strong race, a good performance,” 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 was 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 lot 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.”
Morbidelli feels he could have been in podium contention, without the Marquez tangle.
But the #21 also made clear that, with overtaking difficult, 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 P5 and making P3-2-1 is 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 on 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 that.”
After top-five finishes in the last three rounds, what more does Morbidelli need to claim his first MotoGP 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 positions in the first laps, apart from Mandalika," he said.
“So it's a matter of putting everything together. The speed is there.”
Morbidelli, who missed all of pre-season testing due to a head injury, is now up to eighth in the world championship.
