Morbidelli rues a point miss at Texas MotoGP

Factory Yamaha MotoGP rider Franco Morbidelli admits that he was left upset to be denied a single point not by his opponents but by the FIM MotoGP stewards after Sunday’s Grand Prix of the Americas in Texas.

His difficult weekend came to an even worse end in the final sector of the race when he was (he believes unfairly) docked a place for exceeding track limits.

The Yamaha rider made it to the end of another difficult race weekend at the Circuit of the Americas battling fellow Yamaha rider Andrea Dovizioso for the final points-scoring place of the race as something of a consolation prize – and thought he had it in the bag when he crossed the line in front of the satellite rider, only to see the place then stripped away from him when he was demoted one place on review by the stewards.

But, with Morbidelli adamant that he had done nothing wrong – and perhaps once again highlighting just how inconsistent MotoGP’s stewarding can be – he went directly to see the team of three headed by former multiple world champion Freddie Spencer to argue his case.

“Dovi tried to overtake me in the second last corner,” Morbidelli explained to The Race afterwards, “and because of him trying to overtake me and going wide to do it, I went off the track and I went onto the green. I lost the position, I lost ground, I made for sure the worst acceleration ever. Then Dovi went wide in the last corner and I overtook him and got it back.

“So after the race, they took the position off me, but actually analysing what happened and analysing what is actually written in the rule book, which is not very specific on how much you should lose if you lose the position as well on the last lap, let’s see.

“But I need to take back the position and for sure in the future, they will make a more clear rule on this in the future that will keep the racing craft alive in the last laps but more clear and more specific.”

And while it might not seem like something worth fighting too hard for, after a difficult weekend for Morbidelli he admitted that he was keen to take even one single point from what otherwise was a trip to the USA without much concrete to show for it.

“I spoke with Freddie and I think they’re going to give me back the point,” he added, “because finally after what happened – we need to be certain, but it looks like they’re going to give me back the point and it’s an important point because after a tough weekend, to get one point, after this kind of racecraft and what we did for the race, it’s an important point.”

Should the stewards give Morbidelli back the point, we might not get official confirmation until the Thursday of MotoGP’s next weekend in Portimao in two weeks’ time. Until then its next race.