MotoGP, Lecuona angry with Morbidelli: “Why did he make that maneuver?”

The Superbike rider, standing in for Aldeguer, ended Saturday’s race early: in his sights is the VR46 team colleague and perhaps his future teammate.

After performing well at Balaton Park, where he was called in to replace Alex Marquez, Iker Lecuona had another chance to race in MotoGP in 2026. At Silverstone, the BK8 Gresini team called him to replace Fermin Aldeguer and on Saturday morning he impressed again. In Qualifying, he managed to get through Q1 and into Q2. He then took tenth place, finishing ahead of Joan Mir’s Honda and Jack Miller’s Yamaha, but his Sprint lasted very little: on the second lap he crashed at Turn 16 and retired.

The World Superbike rider blamed Franco Morbidelli for his crash: "There was an issue with Morbidelli,” reports Crash.net. “I passed him three times and he started to lose a bit of time with Mir. I was much faster than him, I felt really good on the bike. I don’t understand why he made that move, since he went completely straight."

Lecuona said he was surprised by the maneuver of the Pertamina Enduro VR46 rider, whom he considers fully responsible for his retirement from the MotoGP sprint race at Silverstone: "We didn’t make contact because I was quick to regain control of the bike, but then as I leaned on a dirty part of the corner I lost the rear. I don’t understand why he made that move at the start of the race, since there were still nine laps left and he had already lost half a second to Joan. So why can’t I try to push and you follow me to catch the group?"

The incident was also investigated by the stewards, who then decided not to take any action against Morbidelli. The two riders were able to discuss what happened face to face. Lecuona blames the Roman and believes he would have had a chance to score points; he will try to bounce back today in the long race.

In Qualifying, the Spaniard actually had Morbidelli to thank for making it through Q1. He followed the VR46 rider, the fastest of the session, and by using his slipstream was able to grab the second spot available for Q2. Without this strategy, he likely wouldn’t have made it, given that in the final moments Fabio Quartararo set a time just 50 thousandths slower.

Lecuona and Morbidelli could find themselves working together in 2027, as there are rumors that the Roman is being considered as a possible replacement for Nicolò Bulega at the Aruba Ducati team in the World Superbike Championship. What happened in the MotoGP Sprint at Silverstone will surely be set aside if the two end up becoming teammates.