We honestly don't know what to think of Franco Morbidelli on the official Yamaha in MotoGP. In Aragon, he showed last weekend that he could sink even deeper into the abyss when we thought he had already hit rock bottom. On a route that he dominated in 2020, for what was his second achievement of the three celebrated in this year ended as vice-world champion, he finished 17th out of 20 classified, taking more than 30s in the view after 23 laps by the winner. Last but not least, he was dominated by test rider and freelancer Cal Crutchlow who brought 2 points to Yamaha for what was his return to competition…
Where is going Franco Morbidelli ? Is it seriously conceivable that he would deliver this kind of procession seen in Aragon as official driver Yamaha until the end of his contract in 2023? In 15 races completed in 2022, the Italian-Brazilian recorded four falls and only finished once in the top 10 with 7th place in Indonesia. While he is only 19th in the championship with 26 points, his teammate fabio quartararo leads the provisional general classification with 211 points.
After 23 laps in Aragon, Franco Morbidelli crossed the finish line 17th and returned home without any points Worse still: he lost a good ten seconds to Andrea Dovizioso's successor at WithU-Yamaha, Cal Crutchlow. And the two MotoGP rookies Darryn binder (Yamaha) and Fabio Di Giannantonio (Ducati) crossed the finish line one second behind him…
« The two first-round mishaps I encountered along the way certainly didn't help. But from 20th place these things can happen » says the man who was Moto2 World Champion in 2017. “ Apart from that, my rhythm was not good. It was enough to gain a few positions, but we didn't fight for much more ».
Franco Morbidelli: “ after two races where I didn't finish, my main task was to finish »
« We tried something in the race to make me a little faster in the fast corners, but I didn't really notice any improvement. I lost an incredible amount of time compared to the others in sector 1. I just don't have the speed for fast, flowing corners at the moment » he further specifies. “ I just focused on giving the best I could give. I gave my best and brought the bike home. After two races where I didn't finish, this was my main task » he assures.
He finishes : " it's definitely necessary to understand what I need to improve in fast corners. We will sit behind the PCs and try to find what I need to improve in the fast corners, then we will try again in Japan ».
MotoGP Aragon J3: ranking
Credit classification motogp.com
