English
Italiano
On Sepang Sunday, Pecco Martin and Jorge Martin put on a show in the early laps, the spotlight on the two title contenders. Bagnaia's victory allows the Turin-based rider to postpone the championship finale to Barcelona, the circuit that will replace Valencia after the events of recent days. Against the backdrop of this duel, the other Italian riders tackled the Malaysian circuit with mixed fortunes, from the scorching heat to the renowned Turn 9.
Marini: "The Ducatis crash, restart and pass you again!"
Luca Marini struggled with the usual difficulties imposed by the level of competitiveness of his Honda, finishing the race in 15th, but downplayed the experience of having to feel the difference between his bike and those of Borgo Panigale on the track.
"The weekend was not great," Marini explained, "on Friday we lost time with some development tests, but they didn't lead to anything and we went back to our base. We arrived unprepared for qualifying, yesterday the start was good while today was more difficult but with this package you can't do any better at the moment. Those who crashed moreover restarted and passed me again, so we weren't even lucky enough to gain positions like that, if a Ducati crashes and restarts you already know that it will pass you, we're skittles, obstacles for them, they come at us without fear because they know they're going twice as fast, in practice we're the ones who have to dodge them" downplayed the situation Luca Marini. "It's normal to be make a show of force when you have a better bike, we'll see when we get back on equal terms."
The end-of-season tests, in which he may be able to try something new, will be important.
"I expect a few new components, a new engine," Marini continued, " but you don't make revolutions anymore, an entirely new bike won't arrive. You work step by step looking for compromises and then proceed in that direction."
Morbidelli: "a tough restart, then the whole race fighting with Marquez"
Speaking of Ducati and riders moving up the rankings, this was in fact the case of Franco Morbidelli, who crashed at Turn 9, "the bastard" while chasing Bastianini and was forced to move up the rankings until he finished 14th after a fight with Marc Marquez ahead of Marini himself.
"Everything was going well - Morbidelli explained - I was following Enea and the feeling in that corner changed, the grip changed. From there a whole other race started, it was tough to pull up the bike and restart, fighting with Marc the whole race because he had also crashed. Also the heat was incredible, it was a race on the limit, but racing is still fun."
Bezzecchi: "with Zarco I had fun, incredible heat."
An uphill and challenging race for Marco Bezzecchi as well, struggling to manage his GP23 throughout the season, he consoled himself by finishing 9th in the top ten after some overtaking at Zarco's expense.
"I had fun but that was the only enjoyable thing about the race," said Marco Bezzecchi , "then I stopped where I was with a skyrocketing tire temperature. I made mistakes and because of the temperatures I couldn't brake anymore, so he passed me again and to counter I had to be quite aggressive. The heat today was incredible, it was more tiring today than all weekend. When you are behind someone else for more than seven corners you don't catch them again, it was hard."
The championship will come to a close in Barcelona, a circuit that will replace Valencia after flooding hit Spain in recent days. The news is well received by all the riders.
"The most important thing is to think of the people of Valencia," Marini spoke first, "I hope we will take action in this sense, in the end the Valencia circuit represents something important for all of us riders, we have all been there in our careers, whether those who have done the Spanish or European championships it is a historic circuit. We saw the effects of the flooding in Emilia Romagna, in Spain it was even worse."
Also positive about returning to Barcelona was Morbidelli.
"It's good news, it was one of the first circuits where I did well this year, although I made a mistake last time, we will be able to observe our improvements."
More prone to joking, on the other hand, was Marco Bezzecchi, at the end of a tour de force in a series of non-European races that tested the temperament of riders and insiders.
"I'm happy to be back racing in Europe, I couldn't take it anymore on long trips," the Rimini native jokingly chimed in.
