Autosportfoto

Jorge Lorenzo 'not clever' in MotoGP's German GP clash - Petrucci

Danilo Petrucci says Ducati stablemate Jorge Lorenzo "was not so clever" in the contact between the two riders late in Turn 1 during the German Grand Prix.

The two came to blows at the Turn 1 right-hander, where Lorenzo had adopted a wide line and chopped across Petrucci's bows.

Petrucci said this cost him one second to the pursuing Vinales after the Ducati rider dropped time trying to pass the fading Lorenzo.

Vinales thenlater passed him to take the final spot on the podium, with the Yamaha rider completing the rostrum behind winner Marc Marquez and Valentino Rossi.

While Pretucci wasn't certain the Yamaha rider wouldn't have passed him anyway, he suggested the Lorenzo run-in could have been the difference between finishing third and fourth.

"He [Lorenzo] went wide at Turn 1, I was on the inside, quite calm. But then he saw me, and I think he decided to touch me, because he touched me on my front tyre.

"I think he saw me and I think he didn't try to avoid me. We lost one second, exactly one second compared to the laps before.

"Maybe with that second I could finish on the podium, but for sure Maverick was faster because he had more tyre [life] and he passed me where I could not answer him.

"[Lorenzo] was not so clever to take that line in Turn 1, because I saw with Rossi, he [Lorenzo] was catching him from the outside, and I don't know what his thought was about that line."

When asked about the incident by Autosport, Lorenzo said it was up to Petrucci to realise that he would inevitably cut back to the inside having gone wide.

"[The rider] who is in front, has no view [of the one behind], and if you go wide on the dirt, you try to go on the clean line as soon as possible," said Lorenzo.

"The rider behind must know that the rider in front going to come [to the inside] sooner or later. He needs to be careful.

"He [Petrucci] said, 'this is my opportunity, I go, I open up the throttle'. That was the problem. He needs to understand, 'I will have another opportunity because I am faster than him. I will overtake him in another corner.'

"That was the problem, in my opinion, because I can't stay on the dirty line forever."

Zdroj: autosport.com