The Petronas driver was able to turn things around following the very difficult weekend experienced in Austria three weeks ago and had a very good first day at home in Misano.
After a catastrophic Styrian Grand Prix in the Yamaha clan, a break was more than necessary to recharge the batteries and start again in a positive way. In any case, that's what Franco Morbidelli, who finished 15th at the end of a complicated weekend, thinks: “[It] was difficult for certain reasons but with two weeks of break I was able to get back on the right foot. »
He indeed showed it today with a final third place in the combined free practice rankings, which for the moment allows him to be provisionally in Q2 tomorrow, even if he himself recognizes that on Friday “nothing matters yet, strictly speaking. »
On track first in each session, he was at the forefront for a long time in FP1 before finally finishing 12th then took the second time in FP2, just behind his teammate Fabio Quartararo since less than two tenths separated the two men at the flag checkered.
Overall, a very positive first day for his “home” GP, who lives right next to the circuit. “It was a wonderful Friday today at my home Grand Prix and it’s great to see some fans in the stands”, did he declare. “We started with the good feeling and a good pace, we did some good laps and I'm happy. »
“I have to continue to stay focused because it’s only Friday. We have to continue and do on the track on Sunday what we did today, and then we can be even happier, at least we hope so. Tomorrow we will try to further improve our package, do a good lap and start from the first two rows. »
MotoGP Misano1 J1: classification
Classification credit: MotoGP.com
