SRT’s Morbidelli off to fine start
Yamaha Sepang Racing Team (SRT), the first ever Malaysian-owned team competing in MotoGP, have made a creditable points-scoring start to the season.
SRT rider Franco Morbidelli came in 11th and collected five valuable championship points at the Qatar Motorcycle Grand Prix on Sunday.
Morbidelli started from eighth on the grid at the Losail International Circuit and finished 9.647 seconds behind race winner Andrea Dovizioso.
But the Italian was left to rue what could have been.
“I would split my race tonight (Sunday) into two parts. The first half was good despite a bad start, because I was able to recover position easily, run with the front group and manage the tyres.
“Unfortunately, we made a bad choice with the rear tyre and went for the soft option when the majority of riders went for the medium. I had to make the tyre last for as long as I could, but from around the halfway stage I started to struggle to stay with the (front) group.”
SRT’s MotoGP newcomer Fabio Quartararo, who earlier did better than Morbidelli in qualifying, was, however, forced to start from the pit lane after his bike stalled just before the warmup lap.
It was disappointing for Quartararo as he had qualified fifth on Saturday and looked likely to finish in the points.
The 19-year-old Frenchman said his maiden MotoGP race was an eye-opener.
“I made a mistake before the start, which was a shame, but it is better to make mistakes at the start of the season rather than in the middle.
“The first lap was very difficult because the tyres were still cold so I had to really concentrate under braking, I stayed calm and was very careful until the tyres got up to temperature before I increased my rhythm and pushed.”
Red Bull KTM Tech3's Hafizh Syahrin Abdullah settled for 20th in the race, a distant 43.242s off the pace.
In Moto2 Petronas Sprinta Racing's Khairul Idham Pawi made a decent start to the season by his standards, crossing the line just outside the points in 17th (+23.978s). He was held up by an accident early on in the race but fought his way back up.
“In the first lap, a few riders crashed in front of me and even though I was able to save (from crashing) it, I lost a few positions,” said Khairul.
“It is important to learn from incidents like this in a race, but I lost a lot of time because of it.
“I tried to focus on maintaining a strong pace on my own, and I was able to pass a few riders.”