Almost ten months after the events, the accident which gave rise to Franco Morbidelli’s greatest fears now seems to be ancient history. The Italian driver made a series of finally convincing Grands Prix and, after winning a first medal in a sprint race in Misano, he fought for the podium in Mandalika.
Already last month, at the San Marino GP, the #21 Ducati was in third place, before a premature fall. This time, she remained among the most prominent machines throughout the race and was able to complete her effort. For 12 laps, in fact, Franco Morbidelli was in the leading trio, before being overtaken by Enea Bastianini. Then, with the fall of the official Ducati rider, the Roman rose to third place again, this time for just two laps before being caught by Pecco Bagnaia.
Throughout the race, he will therefore have crossed swords with his companions from the VR46 Riders Academy who are Bagnaia and Bezzecchi and will have confronted a Bastianini who remains very strong over the long term. “It was a good moment, I was trying to hang on and not give up the position so easily. It was a good moment, as was the whole race!” Morbidelli rejoiced.
If this long struggle therefore ended in fourth place, and despite the suspense which surrounded the moments following the finish before Pedro Acosta was spared by the marshals, the Pramac driver came out with adrenaline at the stronger, happy to have fought for places that count.
Franco Morbidelli is no longer far from eighth place in the championship.
Photo : Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
This performance was also the result of a daring tire choice, that of a soft front rubber like that chosen by the Ducati VR46, while all around it was the hard option which prevailed in the majority. A choice that Morbidelli almost felt forced to make in order to compensate for his departure from ninth place after complicated qualifying.
“A very good race, during which I gave everything”, summed up Morbidelli on Sunday afternoon. “I tried to get a good start and, fortunately, the tire choice we made paid off because, in the first laps, I managed to gain a lot of places after the missed qualifying on Saturday. From halfway through the race I struggled and had to slow down a bit to preserve the tire, but we managed to get a good fourth place, it was a great race!”
The day before, he remained unsatisfied by qualifying ninth while third in Friday’s practice, but an equally aggressive approach allowed him to grab the top 5 in the sprint race, at the cost of several overtakes. “I felt very good potential,” he then congratulated himself on the official MotoGP website. “I found myself in trouble on some occasions and I was also hit by Fabio [Quartararo] so I lost a lot of time, but in the end we still managed to reach fifth place, which is acceptable. Not great compared to the speed we have… but definitely acceptable!”
Now Morbidelli appears regularly in the top positions, looking much more solid than he did at the start of the season. After “two great results” in Mandalika, his position in the championship changes little, nevertheless the continuous improvement of his performances has brought the Italian, 12th, closer to the eighth place occupied today by Aleix Espargaró, who is on the contrary experiencing a period without success. The seven points that separate them are in the sights of the Pramac driver, who becomes more and more enthusiastic as the races progress.
“After such a weekend, we are super motivated for Japan! The second part of this championship has started really well! I was confident that it would start like this and we are making great progress. I hope we can improve further and finish in a positive way.”
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