Watch Former Yamaha Teammates Collide in “Suicide Attack”

Fabio Quartararo has described Franco Morbidelli’s Thai GP overtake as a “suicide attack” after the Frenchman was knocked out of the race

Fabio Quartararo
Fabio Quartararo

The Thai MotoGP at Buriram was full of drama with heavy rain prior to the race leading to a chaotic Grand Prix.

But there was nothing more dramatic than the incident between Quartararo and Morbidelli, as the latter got his barings all wrong at turn eight as he punted Quartararo off.

Quartararo, delivering one of his best races in recent months, was able to take advantage of the weather conditions to initially fight for the podium.

However, the Ducatis began to ramp up the pace which was proving difficult for riders on other machinery to live with.

Morbidelli was one of the fastest riders on the circuit and looked to make quick progress, but that ended when he made a very rash attempt at overtaking his former Yamaha team-mate.

Discussing the incident, which took place one day after he was shoved wide by KTM’s Brad Binder at the same turn in the sprint, Quartararo said: “Turn eight, I don’t know what I did to this corner, but two times in a row two people kick me out of the race.”

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

“I didn’t even see it [the incident with Morbidelli],” Quartararo said, “but the speed he arrived with in turn eight, I think he was quite far in the braking and just released the brake.

“So, I think it was a little bit too optimistic, the move, and especially this morning he was really fast — he just had to wait one straight and he would overtake me in turn three.

“There were still 20 laps more, so I don’t think it’s three more corners [behind] that will [stop] him from making the podium or the victory, so I have nothing more to say about the incident.”

Morbidelli owned up to the mistake post-race as he picked up a Long Lap penalty before crashing out on his own.

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