Teammate of the winner of the day fabio quartararo, who celebrated his first victory in MotoGP and took the lead in the World Championship, the Italian–Brazilian Franco Morbidelli for his part, had a more discreet, but nevertheless effective race which allowed him to finish in a good fifth position.
For the 107th Grand Prix of his career – the 36th in the MotoGP category – the native of Rome managed to equal his best result in 1000 with fifth place, just like last year in Texas, at Assen, at Silverstone and at Misano . It's a good start to the season for this 25-year-old rider, crowned Moto2 World Champion in 2017, with eight victories to his credit.
After finishing fifteenth in the Championship during his rookie year in MotoGP on Honda in 2018, Franco finished tenth last year on Yamaha, and here he is after this Spanish GP in fifth position in the world.
Franco dubbed by Marc Márquez:
Knife through butter! 🔥@marcmarquez93 powers his Repsol Honda past @FrankyMorbido12 and @PeccoBagnaia for sixth! 😱#SpanishGP 🇪🇸 pic.twitter.com/MsmHuEErAj
- MotoGP @ 🏁 (@MotoGP) July 19, 2020
The Jerez weekend started well for Morbidelli who set the best time in the second free practice session, ahead of his teammate Fabio Quartararo. Then he finished seventh in free practice, qualifying directly for Q2. But he only achieved the tenth performance and started on the third row due to the withdrawal of Álex Rins.
He remained in the race for a long time in the leading group, but rather at the back of it in the fight with Francesco Bagnaia and Pol Espargaró, whom he managed to narrowly beat to the finish line, after quite a bit of contact. dry, but fortunately without consequence.
“It was a very good race,” Franco estimated. “ Starting from where I was, I was aiming for a top five finish, but surprisingly we were fighting for the podium in the last two laps. I didn't act in the right way in these two laps, I could have been a little smarter, but despite that the race was positive. We came from behind and had some good battles, even though the race was tricky. »
“Now I'm going to rest a little and try to prepare for the next race. Our weak point this weekend was qualifying. With the speed we reached, it was not acceptable to start tenth, then ninth, then eighth. With such a narrow circuit, it's not great to start from the third row. The first two rows are where you need to be to fight for the podium, so that will be our target next weekend. »
“Congratulations also to Fabio. I'm really happy for him because he deserves this victory and he was incredibly fast today. The team's first and fifth place finishes show the great work each team member does. We are heading in the right direction! »
Fabio congratulated by Franco:
First #MotoGP victory for @sepangracing! 🏆
A sensational achievement! 😎#SpanishGP 🇪🇸 pic.twitter.com/vRw0irshmk
- MotoGP @ 🏁 (@MotoGP) July 19, 2020
“This race and this weekend in general are a great source of motivation. I was fast even on used tires, and I was still with the best, which is encouraging. The team works very well, I really feel in the best possible conditions, both from a physical and mental point of view. »
The only negative moment in Franco's race occurred when contact with Miller threatened to end his race.
« I missed fighting with Jack! It was fun to fight with a driver like him. It was my fault: I saw a hole and jumped in, but the hole was too small to pass through. I was lucky because I could have crashed and ruined a good race, but I was fighting for the podium, so I think I can live with that. »
Tire management, a very important issue these days.
« I knew tire management would be crucial and I felt in a good position despite the high temperatures. There were a lot of accidents at the front due to the push from the rear: compared to last year, it got worse, and it was difficult to manage. »
Now it's time to think about the next race which, as we know, will take place in Jerez in exactly seven days.
« Doing a second race on the same track will be new for everyone, and will be helpful in understanding something more, in many ways. There are some areas to improve, so I think I'm going to work on fine-tuning, even in terms of the conditions we're going to find, but I need to improve in qualifying first. Starting from the back on the grid puts you in greater effort both physically – because being behind a motorcycle makes it more difficult to breathe – and technical, especially when it comes to tires. »
The classification of the Spanish Grand Prix:
Photos © Petronas SRT
