WestCoast Racing’s Gianni Morbidelli was left bemused following his early exit from the second TCR International Series race in Thailand, which came when the Italian hit the barriers hard on the opening lap.
Having finished on the podium in third in race one, Morbidelli had been looking to continue his strong form in race two to challenge for another strong result.
Unfortunately for the veteran Italian, his race lasted less than one lap as he crashed heavily into the barriers exiting Turn 8. It appeared that his Honda Civic had run wide onto the astroturf on the exit of the corner, although Morbidelli admitted that he was unsure what the cause of the crash was.
“Race one went well, but there was no way to keep the pace of the [Craft-]Bamboo cars,” explained Morbidelli. “I lost second to [James] Nash because I made a little mistake; I hit a kerb and went wide.
“My biggest concern was the water temperature and I was trying to get fresh air with different lines, but the temperature kept going higher and that was making me nervous.
“Things went worse in race two, as I lost the car completely in Turn 8 during the first lap. I have no idea of what happened, maybe something got bent in a small earlier contact, the car just went into the barriers without any notice or anything I could do.
“I am sorry for the mechanics, as they will have some work to do…”
Morbidelli is now 54 points behind the championship lead with just six races remaining in the season.