PETRONAS Yamaha Sepang Racing Team’s (SRT) Franco Morbidelli has lashed out at Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Johann Zarco for causing him to crash at the Czech Republic Motorcycle Grand Prix on Sunday.
Zarco made contact with Morbidelli at turn four of the opening lap, causing the latter to crash and subsequently take out Suzuki Ecstar’s Joan Mir.
Zarco, who was third on the grid, had a poor start in the race and went on to finish 14th.
The race was delayed by 35 minutes due to rain.
“It’s a pity because it was looking as if I was going to have a good race, I had good feeling during the warmup and did well during the first two or three corners,” said Morbidelli.
“Unfortunately, after an awful start Johann could have been frustrated and decided to make a non-elegant move on me.
“"We all know that neither elegance nor fair play are Johann’s strong points.
“It is a pity for the team (SRT) and also for Joan Mir.
“But this is racing and we have to move on. We still have testing to go through (yesterday), we still need to improve the balance and speed of the bike a little bit.”
It is the fourth time Morbidelli has not finished a race this season.
Rookie teammate Fabio Quartararo finished the race in seventh.
Tricky weather conditions during qualifying on Saturday saw Quartararo and Morbidelli lining up 10th and 12th on the grid.
Hafizh Syahrin Abdullah also failed to finish at Brno as he crashed out after losing the front on the seventh lap.
The Red Bull KTM Tech3 rider, who will be leaving the team at the end of the season, had also suffered launch control issues similar to Petronas Sprinta Racing’s (Moto3) John McPhee.
“I’m very disappointed. It was a really good race (until the crash).
“I felt confident and I was one of the only three riders to choose the hard tyre in front, but for some reason I suddenly lost the front,” said Hafizh.
“The start was also strange. I tried to put it in launch control (mode) but it was not working and also the dashboard was a bit out of order, so I needed to start without launch control, which was very difficult for me.”
Quartararo is currently ninth in the overall standings with 76 points while Morbidelli is 12th (52 points).
Hafizh is 25th with three points.
The championship continues this week with the Austria Motorcycle Grand Prix which begins at the Red Bull Ring on Friday.