Lack of confidence caused Gianni Morbidelli’s crash

Gianni Morbidelli’s struggles in Macau continued in today’s qualifying session when the Italian crashed in Q2, causing a red flag in the process.

The WestCoast Racing driver sat out of the Free Practice 1 and had engine issues in the second session, meaning he had no chance to test the Honda Civic TCR Step 2 in anger.

“I did not have enough confidence in the car, which ultimately caused the crash,” said the Italian to TouringCarTimes. “Obviously it doesn’t help when you don’t have the chance to do as many laps as you can, especially here in Macau. You are trying to catch up all the time and it leads you to making mistakes.”

The former Grand Prix driver says the crash was his fault: “I made a mistake, so I can’t complain about that. I’m not looking for excuses at all, but the misfortunes surely did not help. I am sorry because I crashed and it’s never a nice feeling, but that tends to happen when you do not have the confidence in your car.”

Morbidelli went on the explain the problems of his Honda: “The car was oversteering a lot, especially in the entry of the corners, which obviously takes confidence away from you. To be honest I didn’t have the pace to match (pole sitter) Rob (Huff)’s time, but I think I would have improved. I was only able to do one timed lap, which was a shame.”

Although he is aware the weekend has not gone well so far, the Italian is eager to get it back on the right track: “It will not be an easy task, but I have to do my best to turn things round. The plan is to now find a better set-up, and if I manage to have a car that makes me feel comfortable then I can still achieve some good results. I will work as much as I can and will not give up, hopefully the races will be fun.”