Having missed the entire MotoGP pre-season was a heavy handicap for Franco Morbidelli, who had to adapt to a new bike and a new team. In the Prima Pramac Racing garage, however, they never had any doubts: it was only a matter of time to return to find that rider who had won three races in 2020 and had been vice-world champion.
Some small signs had already been seen in Barcelona, where, however, Franco exaggerated in his attempt to attack the podium and ended up spinning. On Saturday at Mugello, however, he finally managed to take the step that had not yet been seen in the results, qualifying his Ducati GP24 in the second row, but above all taking home fourth place in the Sprint.
“It was important to finish the race, just as it will be important to finish the long one. This time I responded to the temptation of the podium with a little more intelligence than in Barcelona and it is an important result for me, for the team, for everyone. Let’s see how we are on Sunday Messi: if I can get a good start and stay in front straight away, let’s see what I feel like doing”, Morbidelli said with a beautiful smile.
When asked if this had been his best day since riding the Ducati, he continued: “Every day is the best day on the Ducati since I started my stint until now. This means that I am There have been a lot of good days. There will also be difficult ones, but we started very well.”
It was certainly a Saturday that gave a nice injection of confidence: “We are aware of our level which is very high, we can see it both from the speed in practice and from the exponential improvements we have made since the beginning of the year. But seeing it black on white is another thing. We are quite close, but this is an important moment to be solid. We are looking for solidity because our speed is already good.”
In Q1 there was also the satisfaction of taking the track record, even if only briefly: “I managed to do 1’44″7 at Mugello, which is an incredible time and for ten minutes it was also the track record track, so it was a great day.”
The problem still remains the start, which with the GP24 has not yet become automatic and always ends up costing him several positions: “This time, for example, the lowering device came off after a small wheelie. The problem is my lack of knowledge of the bike, which leads me to still make mistakes in the starting procedure and this causes me to lose quite a lot”.
Morbidelli doesn’t even want to look back with regrets, thinking back to what his season could have been without the training accident in Portimao: “Things are like this now. It was nice to try to do everything quickly and recover quickly We made up for a big gap in knowledge quite quickly thanks to the team. The whole team was very close to me and explained to me very well how to best manage this bike. Now from here on we’re just thinking about getting good results and having fun , because the championship is none of our business after the injuries this winter.”
Finally, when he was asked to give himself a rating, he concluded: “7, a good 7, because there is still margin to achieve victory. I can give the bike and the team a 10, but me a 7”.
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