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Fabio Quartararo blasts Franco Morbidelli’s ‘suicide attack’ at Thailand MotoGP | MotoGP

Harry October 27, 2024

This weekend’s MotoGP Thailand Grand Prix was one of ebbing drama, but one of the key flashpoints at the start of the race was the contact between Franco Morbidelli and Fabio Quartararo that saw the second crash.

Quartararo remounted his Yamaha M1 and qualified 16th, while Morbidelli crashed at the corner where he made contact with Quartararo after receiving a long lap penalty for irresponsible driving.

For Quartararo, what Franco Morbidelli described as a “suicide attack” at turn eight on lap four was the second in two days to affect his racing at that turn after Brad Binder put him on the exit curb. It’s there in Sprint.

“I don’t know what I did in this corner at turn eight, but two guys kicked me out of the race twice in a row,” Quartararo said.

“Yesterday it was a more aggressive move, but today it was more of a suicide attack. But this is a race. Unfortunately, we could not control the others’ moves.”

Quartararo did not appear to be backing down when he spoke to the media after the race in Thailand, but he was confused by Morbidelli’s apparent desperation to pass him.

“I didn’t even see it (the Morbidelli incident),” Quartararo said, “but the speed at which he got to me in turn eight, I think he went pretty far in braking and let it go.

“So I think it was a bit too optimistic and especially this morning he was really fast; he just had to wait once and he could have passed me in turn three.”

“There were still 20 laps left so I don’t think the remaining three corners will keep him from a podium or victory, so I don’t have anything else to say about the incident.”

Morbidelli: “I made a mistake”

Morbidelli’s perspective on the incident was different. Rather than making a desperate move, the Italian driver explained that Quartararo had braked earlier than he expected and that his dive inside was an attempt to evade.

“It’s a shame,” Morbidelli said. “I was trying to recover, I was really fast, trying to recover the starting position and trying to find my way as fast as I could.

“But actually I made a mistake with Fabio (Quartararo).

“I didn’t really want to pass him, but he braked a little bit earlier than me, so at one point I said, ‘Okay, I’ll just have to come in and hope he sees me.’

“But he didn’t. I probably came in too late and we touched down and he went down and that ruined his race and started a downward spiral for mine.

“I got a long lap penalty and to recover from that long lap, I did a little flip at turn eight and crashed. Turn eight was really slippery today.”

Morbidelli added that mistakes were the main thing that ruined a weekend where he showed good pace and potential.

“We were very fast all weekend this weekend, but I made mistakes in important moments.”

“We could have started qualifying yesterday from the front row, but because I crashed at turn 9, we started from 11th place.

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Fabio Quartararo blasts Franco Morbidelli’s ‘suicide attack’ at Thailand MotoGP | MotoGP

Harry

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Fabio Quartararo blasts Franco Morbidelli’s ‘suicide attack’ at Thailand MotoGP | MotoGP

Harry

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