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The heat put a strain on the two VR46 team riders. Franco Morbidelli gasped his way to the finish but managed to conclude the Sprint in Thailand in 5th place, while Fabio Di Giannantonio had to raise the white flag with burns on his body. One cannot say it was an easy start to the championship for either of them.
"I did the best race I could, starting 6th - says Morbidelli -I tried to pass the MVP of the day (most valuable player, ed.) who is Ai Ogura and that's all I could do. It was really hot behind and it was an endurance race, I was struggling to breathe, to ride normally. I was hoping for some mistakes from the riders in front of me, but nothing happened. In the end it went well, a 5th place is a very good start."
The rookie surprised him.
"I tried to pass Ogura right away, because I knew the fewer bikes in front the better. Ai was going really strong, he never dropped his pace or made mistakes, he was attached to Pecco and in front of me the whole race in this incredible heat. He managed to do an incredible performance, it was really impressive," he complimented him.
The 26-lap GP will be an even tougher test, not least because Franco will have to serve the 3-place grid penalty.
"Tomorrow will definitely be even worse, especially for me starting 9th and having even more bikes in front of me. I am undoubtedly among the fastest in the category and that is what is needed to aspire to top positions. I won't have a great starting position, but I'm close to the best," he proclaimed.
Di Giannantonio: "If we don't solve the problem, the Ducati will cook me tomorrow."
As anticipated, Fabio was unable to finish the race and parked his Ducati in the pits when there were a couple of laps to go.
"It was a pity because from the very first lap the bike was burning: my hands were burning, my legs were burning, I couldn't stay in the saddle," the Roman said, "I continued anyway, I tried to stay always out of the slipstream, to make space from the group, I just wanted to finish the race. Unfortunately I couldn't, with two laps to go I couldn't take it anymore. I was overtaking not because I wanted to, but because I had to because of the heat."
Why so much heat even compared to the other Desmosedicis?
"The bike did not have any technical problem, but it was really hot - was the Roman's answer - The team is talking with the other Ducati teams to understand what happened. We all complain about the heat, but I have burned body parts, tomorrow I'll get cooked doing 26 laps like that."
Fabio, however, can also see the positives. The first is technical: "the bike has incredible potential and today I felt really strong thanks to a change made in the morning. This is a positive aspect, too bad we could not express this potential." The second physical: "I'm getting used to the pain, so let's say it's okay. I know what are the braking points where I have to keep a margin, the turns where I can't put my body as I want and so I standardize the pain. Obviously I'm not 100 percent, but having improved the bike gives me a hand because I can ride looser, take fewer risks and waste less energy."
