Petronas Yamaha’s Franco Morbidelli proved yesterday he is able to bang fairings if necessary as he and Jack Miller scrapped it out for the Valencia MotoGP win.

Morbidelli tried to get away from the pack but Pramac Ducati’s Miller hunted him down and went past on the last lap but the Italian was having none of it.

“My aim was to pull away and I wasn’t getting that, the maximum advantage I saw was 0.9s after 14 laps, then it started to go down so that on the last lap he was there and he overtook me,” said Morbidelli, speaking at the track.

“Then after that it was just a matter of trying to answer every move he was doing and finally I was able to get it right and able to finish in front, which was a great, great feeling.

“I knew I could be tough in a fight, but I hadn’t done it in top positions so it was nice to have a fight and prove myself in MotoGP against a great rider for the victory. It was good to see I was able to come out of this in a good way.

“I don’t remember much of the last lap, sincerely. I knew I was going underneath him big time, maybe because he had the medium front and I had the hard front I was able to go underneath him. I remember thinking that I was going underneath him, no matter what.

“To win a race with that battle at the end is a great feeling, it’s different of course. We are second in the championship now and I am looking forward to Portimao.”