Diogo Moreira frustrated by Misano MotoGP crash after key breakthrough

Diogo Moreira had felt he had made a key breakthrough in his bike setup at the Misano MotoGP before crashing out at turn four.

Moreira had finished 11th in the Sprint after qualifying 15th on Saturday morning, one of two Honda riders – along with the ill Joan Mir – to miss Q2 at Misano.

The Brazilian’s key problem point on the Misano layout had been the high-speed third sector, which includes the sixth-gear turn 11 and the two slowing right-handers that follow it before the first-gear turn 14 hairpin.

Moreira said after the race that he had found an improvement in the third sector in Warm Up on Sunday morning, so his early crash on lap three of the MotoGP race prevented him from being able to take advantage of that.

“It was a shame,” Diogo Moreira said of his crash after the Misano race, “because this morning we found something, finally, after all the weekend, in this sector three. 

“I mean also this first lap on the race I felt super-good, I was able to pass riders and I felt strong. 

“I think the race today could be a good race, but it's like this. 

“It's a small crash and we are okay, so we have also next week one race more, so we need to keep like this.”

Moreira explained that his LCR Honda team had worked to make the bike more stable through those high-speed turns in the third sector.

“We just make the bike more calm, by setup and also electronics side, so it was much more easy to keep the speed on this corner,” he said of turn 11.

“We found something, and this morning was much more easy to ride.

“I was able to, all the sectors, keep the same like yesterday, just we improve in sector three – was the key.”

The crash itself came as a surprise to Moreira. He went down in turn four, but he says he wasn’t pushing at that point on lap three.

“Just the crash today was difficult to understand, because on that corner I was not pushing,” he said.

“I was preparing sector two to pass Fabio [Quartararo]. At the end it was strange, but anyway, we are first year in MotoGP, so we can make these mistakes. 

“Anyway, it was a difficult weekend for us, and we find finally something on the last day, and will be better next year for sure.”