Iker Lecuona puzzled by Franco Morbidelli Silverstone MotoGP Sprint contact

Iker Lecuona was left puzzled by Franco Morbidelli’s move on him in the Silverstone MotoGP Sprint that resulted in Lecuona’s retirement from the race.

Lecuona had made it from Q1 into Q2 earlier in the day, and started 12th for the Sprint.

Morbidelli was a row ahead of him, but they came to blows in the opening stages.

“In the race, a problem with Morbidelli in that case,” Iker Lecuona said after the Sprint at Silverstone.

“I overtake him three times, he started to lose some time with Joan [Mir]. I go much faster than him, honestly I feel very good on the bike.

“I don't understand why he did that movement, because he go completely straight. 

“We don't have contact because I'm fast to pick up the bike, but when I apply the banking on the dirt area, I lose the rear, I cannot do anything. 

“I don't understand why he did that movement in the beginning of the race, because it's just nine laps still, you know, or that kind of fighting, because he lost already half-a-second compared to Joan, so why I cannot try to push and you follow me to catch the group again?

“It's some movement that honestly I don't understand for the first lap of the race.”

Lecuona added that he felt he could’ve been in the top-nine if he had been able to complete the race without incident.

“I feel very sad for the team, because they did a really good job, I did a really good job, and for sure I finish in the points, I'm sure, because I have a lot of confidence,” he said.

“So that is what I'm very pissed off about. 

“But in any case, I take the positive, and the positive is that I have a really good start with the first time with just the rear device, good position on the first corners, good fight also with Morbidelli in that case, but with a really good confidence on the front tyre.

“Also I have like 40 km less than the other one, so I'm more fresh for tomorrow!”

Morbidelli: “I was a bit wide”

From Morbidelli’s perspective, the move wasn’t egregious, just one in which he ran wider than he’d have liked.

“We [Morbidelli and Lecuona] spoke earlier and, you know, first laps and I made an overtaking on him,” Morbidelli said.

“Probably I was a bit wide and he went wide as well. 

“Probably he went, maybe, on a dirty part of the track and he crashed.”

He added: “I mean we spoke now and everything was fine.”