Franco Morbidelli “very tired, but grateful” after Qatar MotoGP
Franco Morbidelli: ‘The important thing is that everythi🦩ng is OK with me, my head. Now it's time to keep working and chasing the to🧔p guys’.
After a nightmare pre-season in which he was unable to test for his new Pramac Ducati team, 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Franco Morbidelli progressed from 22nd and last in FP1 to finish 18th in the Qatar MotoGP.
The Italian’s pre-season preparations were brutally halted by a head injury whi🔯le traini✃ng on a Superbike at Portimao in January.
Missing both the Sepang and Qatar tests, the former Yamaha rider only received the OK from doctors to return toℱ MotoGP action a few days before the season opener.
That meant Morbidelli was not only riding the ‘full’ spec Desmosedici GP24 for the very first time in Friday practice, having tried an early version at last November’s Valencia test, but had a✃lso been advised not to ride any kind of motorcycle as a precaution following his accident.
Friday night’s second practice wa🌸s then effectively lost to a rain storm before Morbidelli moved ahead of Repsol Honda’s L💫uca Marini in Saturday practice.
The 29-year-old was back in last place, albeit by only꧃ 0.028s, during qualifying, then finished 20th and +23.267s in the Saturday Sprint rac♊e.
Further Sunday progress saw Morbidelli reach 13th in warm-up, before effectively🀅 matching the Sprint deficit (+24.641s) in the grand prix, despite almost double the race laps, on his way to 18th in the grand prix.
“꧟I am very tired, but so grateful that everything wen🍰t smoothly this weekend and everything went the right way,” Morbidelli said.
“I feel good with the bike. I was im𒅌proving, improving and catching up to the top guys [during the weekend]. But that's not important. The important thing is that everything is OK with me, my head. And now it's time to keep working and keep chasing the top guys.
“I got the ‘OK’ to come here [last🃏] Monday. I was coming from a head concussion injuryܫ, so I was making tests to check out if I was OK. And after one month without doing anything, jumping on a bike and making a race weekend was a challenge.
“But it's a challenge that thanks to the peopಌle that thanks to all the VR46 family, all my family, the team and the bike, it was possible to do.”
The next event will be at Portimao, the scene 🐓of Morbidelli’s accident.
“It’s great. It’s a track that I like. Of course, it’s the track where I had the accident but I don't reme⛦mber it,” he said.
Team-mate Jorge Martin took victory in the Sprint and wꦛas third in the grand prix.
Pe🦩ter has been in the paddock for 20 years and has seen Valentino Rossi come and go. He is at the forefron♔t of the Suzuki exit story and Marc Marquez’s injury issues.
