Franco Morbidelli will not be able to travel to Sepang and therefore will not be able to take part in the first official tests of the 2024 MotoGP pre-season, which will be held on the Malaysian circuit from Tuesday to Thursday. The doctors treating the pilot in Italy advised him against undertaking such a long flight and asked him to continue the recovery process started after the accident.
The new Prima Pramac Racing rider traveled to Portimao to take part in a private test on Monday and Tuesday this week, as part of his preparation for the season. The Algarve circuit hosted a SBK test organized by Ducati and most of the riders who race for the brand took part in the two days of testing to ride the road-derived Panigale V4. Everyone did it except Morbidelli's teammate, the Spaniard Jorge Martin.
In the final part of the second day, Tuesday afternoon, Morbidelli fell heavily at turn 9, where there were no marshals at the time, and was initially helped by the brothers Marc Marquez and Alex Marquez, a gesture for which the Italian rider regretted he is said to be grateful afterwards. After being evacuated from the circuit, Franky was taken to hospital where he underwent two CT scans and remained under observation for almost two days, as a small blood clot was detected in his head which needed to be absorbed.
On Thursday he was finally able to return to Italy, where doctors are monitoring the evolution of the head trauma. Morbidelli was supposed to travel to Kuala Lumpur on Saturday, but for the moment he has remained at home.
In a social media post on Sunday morning, Prima Pramac Racing said: “We would like to provide an update on the medical evaluation of Franco Morbidelli. The medical team has decided to postpone the evaluation for a few more days. This delay is intended to allow a more complete understanding of his physical condition and to determine his suitability to participate in tests scheduled in the coming days.”
When contacted, the team confirmed that it is “very complicated” for the Roman driver to arrive in time to take part in the tests, which will begin on Tuesday.
Morbidelli arrives this season in Pramac and the Ducati orbit after five seasons with Yamaha. His only experience riding the Ducati was limited to the one-day test in Valencia last November and this first official test in Sepang was essential to become familiar with the Desmosedici GP24 identical to the one ridden this year by the official riders Pecco Bagnaia and Enea Bastianini.
Before the start of the season, with the Qatar Grand Prix set for the weekend of 10 March, Morbidelli will have another chance in the second and final official pre-season test, which will be held at the Lusail circuit on 19 and 20 February.
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