Morbidelli v Aldeguer MotoGP battle “a shot of adrenaline" in "sketchy race”

While the top four riders in the Aragon MotoGP finished in the same order as the opening lap, a fierce fight for fifth raged between Franco Morbidelli and rookie Fermin Aldeguer.

Aldeguer had got the better of the Italian for third in the Saturday Sprint, but the VR46 rider prevailed after some fairing banging during the grand prix.

The GP24 riders initially fought over sixth place, before being promoted one place when Brad Binder crashed.

Morbidelli led Aldeguer over the line from lap 2 onwards but was forced to launch numerous counterattacks to stay ahead of the blue machine.

The pair twice made contact at high speed along the back straight.

“It was a sketchy race,” said Morbidelli. “I was struggling big time, especially in the first half.

“I wasn't having the feeling I was expecting and I almost crashed three times, two of them big ones, in turn 9 and turn 10.

“So I'm really happy that I was able to bring the bike home, even more in P5 because at the end I found myself fighting with Fermin.

“It was a really nice battle. I'm pleased that I could get the better of him.

“It felt similar to the battle with Marc in Silverstone, the difference was the ending. 

"With Marc, I couldn't beat him. With Fermin, I could, but he was really strong.”

Morbidelli denied that some of the passes between them were overly aggressive - “it was just a nice battle” - but did admit contact on the straight caused a spike of adrenaline.

“Pure adrenaline was going through my head in that moment of the race, if you could spill it in a shot [glass], I could make you an adrenaline drink!” he smiled.

Had the cut-throat dirt track battles with VR46 Academy riders at Valentino Rossi’s ranch helped?

“There is nothing really that can train you for a battle at 360km/h, with bikes with 250 horsepower and that weight, until the last lap of the race, with finished tyres.

“There are few things that can help you to train for that.

“For sure, the ranch has its benefits in training, but I think in those moments you really go by instinct. And it depends on human being to human being.”

While the duel thrilled the watching fans, Morbidelli admitted it probably cost them the chance to challenge Pedro Acosta for fourth.

“For sure, I lost a lot of time with the battle and the three big moments I had. We could have got closer to Pedro. But that's the way it is.”

Fermin Aldeguer: “Heavy” fight with Morbidelli

Aldeguer also had no complaints over the intensity of the battle.

“Yeah, a funny fight. It was a good race. If I’d won the battle, I’d be even happier, but we didn’t do the best start. I had some spin.

“Then in the first fight with Morbidelli, on the second lap, he touched me and I went straight, so I lost a lot of time.

“When I caught Morbidelli again, my front tyre was a little bit destroyed by the graining, and the temperature went up a lot.

“I tried by best to fight, but Morbidelli is ‘heavy’ in a battle, he has a lot more experience and he won. But we are a rookie, so it’s okay.

“We took a lot of experience in this battle, and I would have signed for a sixth position just eight races ago [at the start of the season].”

Both will be back on track for Monday’s official MotoGP test, although their satellite status means neither rider expects to try new parts.