Gianni Morbidelli slams driving standards after Portimao disaster

WestCoast Racing’s Gianni Morbidelli left Portugal without scoring a single point in the championship, with the Italian involved in three incidents during the two races.

In race one, Morbidelli was first involved in an incident between Craft-Bamboo Lukoil’s Pepe Oriola and Target Competition’s Stefano Comini, when Comini ran wide and rejoined the track at Turn 2 and made contact with Morbidelli’s car, sending them both into a spin.

Morbidelli fell down the order and was then involved in an incident with Andrea Belicchi in the sister Target SEAT León, with Belicchi making contact with Morbidelli’s front-left wheel, forcing the team to repair it between the two races.

Morbidelli’s second race lasted just two laps before an incident with Lorenzo Veglia’s Engstler SEAT, which the young Italian apologised for, meaning former points leader Morbidelli scored no points in Portugal and drops to third in the standings, 25 points behind Comini.

“I’m disappointed with the style of driving of many drivers here,” said Morbidelli to TouringCarTimes “I’ve already spoken with the race director, and what I saw today was not nice for the category. I understand there are some fights in touring car races, but fights are one thing, this was over the limit.

“I’m just sorry for the team, because they worked really hard, they’re pushing all the time,” he added. “We were not in the position to try to win for sure, but we could have scored some points and stayed there in the fight for the championship, but I’m more disappointed with what happened in the races, this is unacceptable.”