Dutch Grand Prix TT Assen MotoGP J2: Morbidelli chasing his teammate Quartararo

For his ninety-fifth Grand Pris contested, after 71 in Moto2 and 23 in MotoGP, Franco Morbidelli will try in Assen to gradually come back to the score on his young teammate France Quartararo, less experienced than him and with a Yamaha theoretically slightly less efficient. He did not succeed this Saturday because “El Diablo” took pole position in the Netherlands.

The Italian-Brazilian did not deserve anything, however, with a cautious fourteenth place during the first day of free practice, in 1'33.963, 0.089 behind. Maverick Vinales. At the end of FP3 qualifying directly for Q2, Morbidelli ranked sixth in 1'33.963, 0.442 behind fabio quartararo, with a delay on the Honda of the good Nakagami at 0.023.

The second session was not royal for “Francky Morbido” in 1'33.314, 1.297 behind the pole position of his teammate Quartararo. We get the impression that Franco has found the worst possible teammate (in terms of sport and notoriety) and that many people – dazzled by the brilliance of “El Diablo” – pay only limited attention to him.

Yet Morbidelli's season is far from contemptible, with all but one of his places (6) in the top eight in qualifying, a fifth place in Austin in the race then two sevenths in Jerez and Le Mans. Unfortunately the next two Grands Prix in Italy and Catalonia ended with zero points.

Franco won once in 2017 at Assen in Moto2 and he finished second there in 2016, again in Moto2. Last year, he was withdrawn from his MotoGP RC213V in EG 0,0 Marc VDS colors.

“I am too far from Fabio and Viñales, Morbidelli admitted. I need to understand why as quickly as possible to fill the void ».

Obviously, this situation is not satisfactory for Rossi's protégé, even if in Assen the student did better than the master.

“Actually, I'm not satisfied. This morning, I was fast on a lap, but I had difficulties on the contrary this afternoon. In FP4, I quickly followed the two Ducatis and managed to keep up the pace well.”

“In qualifying I couldn't be very fast. The bike is not as stable as I would like, and in FP3 and FP4 it seemed to be better but in qualifying these problems came back, I don't know if the heat affected.

Yamaha therefore experienced a double-sided day with the excellent results of Quartararo and Viñales who are ahead of everyone and Rossi a little further back. And we don't seem to understand why.

" I have no response. If I had it, I would be there in front of Fabio. If I am able to have a good start and a consistent race, I will be able to fight for fifth to sixth position ».

Qualification results:

1. Fabio QUARTARARO Petronas Yamaha SRT 1'32.017
2. Maverick VIÑALES Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP 1'32.157 0.140 / 0.140
3. Alex RINS Team SUZUKI ECSTAR 1'32.458 0.441 / 0.301
4. Marc MÁRQUEZ Repsol Honda Team 1'32.731 0.714 / 0.273
5. Joan MIR Team SUZUKI ECSTAR 1'33.085 1.068 / 0.354
6. Cal CRUTCHLOW LCR Honda CASTROL 1'33.228 1.211 / 0.143
7. Danilo PETRUCCI Ducati Team 1'33.282 1.265 / 0.054
8. Takaaki NAKAGAMI LCR Honda IDEMITSU 1'33.295 1.278 / 0.013
9. Franco MORBIDELLI Petronas Yamaha SRT 1'33.314 1.297 / 0.019 
10. Jack MILLER Pramac Racing 1'33.323 1.306 / 0.009
11. Andrea DOVIZIOSO Ducati Team 1'33.692 1.675 / 0.369
12. Pol ESPARGARÓ Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 1'33.762 1.745 / 0.070
13. Francesco BAGNAIA Pramac Racing 1'33.221 Q1
14. Valentino ROSSI Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP 1'33.466 Q1
15. Aleix ESPARGARÓ Aprilia Racing Team Gresini 1'33.547 Q1
16. Karel ABRAHAM Reale Avintia Racing 1'33.583 Q1
17. Miguel OLIVEIRA Red Bull KTM Tech 3 KTM 1'33.706 Q1
18. Johann ZARCO Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 1'33.776 Q1
19. Hafizh SYAHRIN Red Bull KTM Tech 3 KTM 1'33.869 Q1
20. Andrea IANNONE Aprilia Racing Team Gresini 1'33.960 Q1
21. Tito RABAT Reale Avintia Racing 1'34.580 Q1

Reference times:

Old test record: 1'32.627 by Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) in 2015

Lap record: 1'33.617 by Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) in 2015

Best top speed: 319,8 km/h for Andrea Iannone (Ducati Team) in 2015

Provisional ranking of the World Championship:

1 Marc MÁRQUEZ – Honda 140 points

2 Andrea DOVIZIOSO – Ducati 103

3 Alex RINS – Suzuki 101

4 Danilo PETRUCCI – Ducati 98

5 Valentino ROSSI – Yamaha 72

6 Jack MILLER – Ducati 53

7 Fabio QUARTARARO – Yamaha 51

8 Takaaki NAKAGAMI – Honda 48

9 Pol ESPARGARÓ – KTM 47

10 Cal CRUTCHLOW – Honda 42

11 Maverick VIÑALES – Yamaha 40

12 Franco MORBIDELLI – Yamaha 34

13 Aleix ESPARGARÓ -Aprilia 27

14 Joan MIR – Suzuki 22

15 Jorge LORENZO – Honda 19

16 Johann ZARCO – KTM 16

17 Miguel OLIVEIRA – KTM 12

18 Andrea IANNONE – Aprilia 12

19 Michele PIRRO – Ducati 9

20 Francesco BAGNAIA – Ducati 9

21 Tito RABAT – Ducati 9

22 Stefan BRADL – Honda 6

23 Sylvain GUINTOLI – Suzuki 3

24 Karel ABRAHAM – Ducati 2

25 Hafizh SYAHRIN – KTM 2

Video: Morbidelli with a piece of saddle less

Photos © motogp.com / Dorna, Petronas SIC