Freshly crowned with the title of Champion of independent teams, the Petronas Yamaha Sepang Racing team of Franco Morbidelli and Fabio Quartararo arrives with ever greater ambition in Valencia, where this time the role of El Diablo will be to conquer the title of best independent driver of the year, after being crowned best rookie. Fabio has a 23-point lead in the Independent Riders' Championship and has a strong advantage with the support of his Italian-Brazilian teammate.
“Francky Morbido” has good memories of the Ricardo Tormo Circuit, with a third place on the podium in 2016 on a Kalex from the Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS team, then a second place in 2017 on a Kalex Moto2 from the same team, the season where he was crowned World Champion in this discipline.
It was on a Honda from the EG 0,0 Marc VDS team that he made his debut last year in Valencia in MotoGP. He qualified fifteenth (his best place on the grid in 2018 being twelfth at Mugello). He fell in the race without seriousness, and ended his first year in MotoGP in fifteenth place in the World Championship standings, just 1 point behind Pol Espargaro.
This year, Franco arrives brilliantly in the top 10 in Valencia, 21 points ahead of Pol Espargaró in eleventh place. Morbidelli finished sixth at Sepang for his sponsor's national GP, which left him only half satisfied: “We can't complain, because it was a good weekend, even if we expected a little more from the race. I didn't quite have the right feeling when we started racing, but even with that we were able to finish in sixth place and as the best independent team rider. I was losing out on acceleration to the benefit of the others, then I had to force myself on braking to make up the difference. We only have one race left in Valencia to try to get on the podium. »
The boss of his team, Razlan Razali, was more positive after Sepang: “Franco Morbidelli and fabio quartararo were unable to capitalize on their first and third places on the grid, but we were able to win the Best Independent Team award, extend Fabio's lead in the independent rider standings and stay ahead of Suzuki in fourth position in the general team classification, there are good reasons to encourage our team. We are already looking forward to finishing the final round of the championship strong in Valencia. »
According to Franco Morbidelli, who are " I really like Valencia and I have good memories of my first start on the front row in 2014 and then two podiums. »
“Last year I fell from fifth place, so even though it wasn't the result I wanted, I showed that I can be strong. »
“Let's hope the weather is good, because we want to arrive with a lot of positive energy after a few tricky rounds. »
“I want to do a great job to finish the season, and if I can pass on some of my good energy to the team, I'm confident we can work very well this weekend. The Yamaha YZR-M1 was a very easy bike to ride in Valencia for the first time twelve months ago, and I can't wait to get back on it. »
Provisional ranking of the World Championship:
1 Marc MÁRQUEZ–Honda 395 points
2 Andrea DOVIZIOSO–Ducati 256
3 Maverick VIÑALES–Yamaha 201
4 Alex RINS–Suzuki 194
5 Danilo PETRUCCI–Ducati 176
6 Fabio QUARTARARO–Yamaha 172
7 Valentino ROSSI–Yamaha 166
8 Jack MILLER–Ducati 149
9 Cal CRUTCHLOW–Honda 133
10 Franco MORBIDELLI–Yamaha 115
11 Pol ESPARGARÓ–KTM 94
12 Joan MIR–Suzuki 83
13 Takaaki NAKAGAMI–Honda 74
14 Aleix ESPARGARÓ–Aprilia 56
15 Francesco BAGNAIA–Ducati 54
16 Andrea IANNONE–Aprilia 43
17 Miguel OLIVEIRA–KTM 33
18 Johann ZARCO–Honda 30
19 Jorge LORENZO–Honda 25
20 Tito RABAT–Ducati 18
21 Stefan BRADL–Honda 16
22 Michele PIRRO–Ducati 9
23 Hafizh SYAHRIN–KTM 8
24 Sylvain GUINTOLI–Suzuki 7
25 Karel ABRAHAM–Ducati 7
26 Mika KALLIO–KTM 3
27 Bradley SMITH–Aprilia 0
Franco Morbidelli and Fabio Quartararo
Franco Morbidelli and his pit crew
Photos © Petronas Yamaha SRT
