It was with a fine fifth place that Franco Morbidelli satisfied his team's hopes, equaling his fifth positions already obtained in Texas and Assen this year. The Italian–Brazilian is now in the top 10 of the provisional ranking of the World Championship, with 69 points which earn him tenth provisional position, with a small point ahead of Pol Espargaró.
On Friday, Franco Morbidelli inaugurated his British Grand Prix with the fifth fastest time in FP1, 1.050 behind his teammate fabio quartararo. He continued in FP2 with the seventh fastest time, 0.958 behind El Diablo. He finally finished free practice after FP3 in eighth place, 0.874 behind Fabio, which guaranteed him direct access to Q2.
In this Q2, he ranked eighth again, 0.928 from pole position Marc Márquez. He therefore started this Sunday from the third row of the starting grid, between Andrea Dovizioso and Cal Crutchlow. This year, his best qualification was second place at Jerez, which meant he started from the front row between Fabio Quartararo and Marc Marquez. He finished 7 times in the top 10 in 12 Grands Prix, with 4 retirements. Franco competed in his 99th Grand Prix this Sunday, after having participated in 71 events in Moto2 (8 victories, 21 podiums and the world title in 2017) and 28 in MotoGP.
This Sunday at Silverstone, he got off to a good start and quickly found himself in fifth position behind Marc Márquez, Álex Rins, Valentino Rossi and Maverick Viñales. He quickly formed a small chasing group with Cal Crutchlow and Jack Miller.
The home favorite is making progress! 👊@calcrutchlow climbs to fifth at the expense of @FrankyMorbido12! ⬆️#BritishGP 🇬🇧 pic.twitter.com/2T1KN8H2LI
- MotoGP @ 🏁 (@MotoGP) August 25
There was a lot of overtaking between the three men, but “Francky Morbido” finally managed to finish in fifth position, 13.109 behind winner Marc Márquez, but 6 seconds ahead of Cal Crutchlow, Danilo Petrucci and Jack Miller. This satisfied his team, a little disappointed at the start of the race by the fall of Fabio Quartararo.
According to Franco Morbidelli, who are " It was a great race for us, especially since throughout the weekend this kind of result didn't seem possible at times."
“I had a good start, I was able to occupy interesting positions and my feelings improved as the race progressed.”
“I fought a bit with Crutchlow, but I managed to get away from him and fifth place is a good result for me and my team.”
“It’s a good starting point for the next races and I feel we can use what we learned this weekend to improve further ».
According to the team manager Wilco Zeelenberg, “It could have been a good weekend, but we are leaving with mixed fortunes. Fabio was unlucky with his retirement, but Franco had a very good race and made big progress.”
“His pace and strategy were good, and it's a shame he couldn't continue chasing Valentino Rossi at the end. It's disappointing for Fabio as he could have fought for the win with his pace, but that's racing - this sort of thing can happen ».
To Razlan Razali, Team Director, “This weekend at Silverstone we showed strong pace and excellent teamwork. In MotoGP, we are very happy that Franco gets his best result so far in MotoGP and we know that even better things will come from him. It was an unfortunate accident for Fabio, who had shown strong pace throughout the weekend. In Moto3, Ayumu and John fought well and were fighting for the podium. In Moto2, we would like to thank Bradley for his efforts to return to the category after such a long absence. We are now focusing on Misano.”
Race results:
Provisional ranking of the World Championship:
1. Marquez 250. 2. Dovizioso 172. 3. Rins 149. 4. Petrucci 145. 5. Viñales 118. 6. Rossi 116. 7. Miller 94. 8. Quartararo 92. 9. Crutchlow 88. 10. Morbidelli 69. 11. Pol Espargaró 68. 12. Nakagami 62. 13. Mir 39. 14. Aleix Espargaró 33. 15. Bagnaia 29. 16. Iannone 27. 17. Oliveira 26. 18. Zarco 22. 19. Lorenzo 21. 20. Bradl 16. 21. Rabat 14. 22. Pirro 9. 23. Guintoli 7. 24. Syahrin 6. 25. Abraham 5.
Photos © motogp.com / Dorna
