Sepang (Malaysia): Honda’s Marc Marquez was made to wait for his fourth MotoGP world title in five seasons after the 24-year-old Spanish rider finished fourth in Sunday’s Malaysian Grand Prix. Andrea Dovizioso’s brilliant triumph at the rain-soaked Sepang circuit reduced his rival’s advantage to 21 points. Only 25 points available to the winner in Valencia, the venue of the season finale. Ducati recorded their first one-two of the season after Dovizioso overtook team-mate Jorge Lorenzo with four laps to go to claim his sixth win of the campaign, with Johann Zarco holding off Marquez to take third.
In Moto2, a feeder event, it was the wisdom of a seven-year-old self that helped Franco Morbidelli maintain his focus and achieve the podium in Malaysia even though he was told early Sunday morning that championship rival Thomas Luthi’s withdrawal had made him the new champion by default.
The 22-year-old Italian who had prior to the Malaysian Grand Prix announced his move from the intermediate category to next season’s MotoGP wrapped up his biggest career achievement with the final leg in Valencia remaining.
“I woke up this morning and they told me Tom wasn’t going to race but I wasn’t feeling champion then,” said Morbidelli after taking his tenth podium of the season with a third place (40’35.833) behind KTM duo Miguel Oliveira (40’28.955) and Brad Binder (40’31.342).
Morbidelli felt it “all go white” as soon as he crossed the line. He punched the air repeatedly as he strode onto the podium. But the “moment of euphoria” had a short life tells Morbidelli, thanks to his ability to deal with pressure from a tender age. “I’ve been racing since I was seven and I have fought for championships since then. I have been dealing with the pressure from then.
“I felt the same winning this world title as I did while winning the Italian mini title aged seven,” said the Roman, who loves listening Bob Marley. Morbidelli looks back at his career choices and feels the decision to switch to Moto2 has been vindicated. “I didn’t come from the usual path that everyone chooses, I came from another world,” he reminisces. “It was hard in the beginning and we didn’t know if this was the right choice. I started with a mini moto and then switched to 125cc.
“But we found that we were short on money so we had choose another path and do the Superstock 600 because it was much cheaper. But winning the world championship today has proven that the decisions were all right,” Morbidelli says with a smile, hoping his decision to progress to MotoGP next season will prove good.
