Petronas Yamaha SRT’s Franco Morbidelli has hailed his continued “good trends” since Silverstone after claiming his fifth top six finish of the season at the PTT Thailand Grand Prix.
The Italian was in the mix for a top four place for the majority of the race at the Chang International Circuit but late brake struggles meant Morbidelli had to settle for P6. Nevertheless, since Silverstone, the MotoGP™ sophomore has been up the sharp end of the top 10 and if it wasn’t for being taken out at the Aragon GP, four top sixes in a row may have been 2018’s Rookie of the Year to boast.
“Yeah I’m quite satisfied about the race,” began Morbidelli. “We got a good start and we were able to fight for fourth position until the last quarter of the race, and then I had to pull back a little bit because we were struggling in braking. But anyway we are satisfied and we go to Japan and we try to improve but since Silverstone we have a good trend. We can improve and we will try to do it.”
Four P5s have come Morbidelli’s way this season in Americas, Dutch, British and San Marino GPs, his best results in the premier class to date. So with the Japan, Australian and Malaysia triple-header coming up, can Morbidelli earn that taste of a podium finish before the 2019 season ends? A solid P8 at Phillip Island last season was his best result on the Honda in his rookie season, and the 2017 Moto2™ World Champion has rostrum success at all four circuits he’s about to visit.
Morbidelli “hopes to also be fast” at the Twin Ring Motegi next time out. Can he continue to hunt down Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda Castrol) for P9 in the overall standings? 12 points separate the duo with four races remaining, but Morbidelli isn’t sure what to expect from his trip to Japan.
“I don’t know what to expect in Motegi. We will have to see the weather and how it’s going with the tyres and everything. We hope to also be fast there.”