Enea Bastianini, Franco Morbidelli reflect on ding-dong which cost them a podium

Enea Bastianini and Franco Morbidelli were both in the hunt for a podium finish at the German MotoGP.

But their tussle eventually slowed them both down and cost them whatever slim chance they had of catching Alex Marquez, who completed the podium.

Jorge Martin fell out of the lead allowing Pecco Bagnaia to win, and Marc Marquez to finish second.

Morbidelli had qualified impressively in sixth, but was soon contesting P2 with Pramac teammate Martin.

Bagnaia eventually demoted Morbidelli down to third, then the Pramac rider lost his spot to Alex Marquez.

Notably, Morbidelli and Marc Marquez were involved in a big contact - remarkably, neither rider went down.

Marquez overtook Morbidelli for fourth, at the same time that factory Ducati rider Bastianini made a trademark late charge. He was up to fifth.

“This time, missing the podium, I am not really happy,” Bastianini said.

“It has been a difficult race for me, starting from the first lap.

“Because I made mistakes with the rear device. I did the whole lap with the bike down.

“At the end, I tried to come back. Lap by lap, I was better. I was close to the podium.

“When I was close to him, I fought with Frankie. We lost time.

“Well, Marc was gone. And… nothing!”

Alex Marquez, clinging onto third, admitted he was wary of Bastianini.

But Bastianini overtaking Morbidelli for fourth gave Alex enough time to secure the podium.

Morbidelli reacted to the German MotoGP: “I enjoyed it very much. I had great speed, especially in the first half of the race.

“Then I lost some performance. Probably, I was aggressive on the tyres and couldn’t hang on until the end.

“But I had fun. I had overtakes in the beginning.

“I had the feeling that I could get there, which is positive for us.”

P5 is the second-best result of a season which is kicking into gear for Morbidelli.

It started with an injury suffered in preseason.

However, he is on the lookout for a 2025 seat as Pramac prepare to flee Ducati for Yamaha.