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Having received the green light from the doctors, Franco Morbidelli will be able to start his season and finally get back on the Pramac Racing team's Ducati GP24 to contest the first Grand Prix of the year. It’s an eagerly awaited weekend for the Italian-Brazilian rider, forced to stay away from his new bike all winter, recovering from the frightening accident suffered at the end of January on the Portimao circuit.
"I'm feeling very good. It has been a particular pre-season for me without testing and this year the testing was probably the most important of all the years I have been in MotoGP because it's a completely new bike and it's particularly high competition championship - commented Frankie at Lusail - But that's the situation and we are going to recover from it in the best way, which is to take it calmly in the early stages and try to make, to keep the rhythm outside of the track and don't stress too much if the things are not coming because we know that I need to learn a lot of things in this small amount of time."
This start to the season will certainly not be easy for Franco, who has only one day of official testing behind him, but the potential he was able to appreciate in his first contact with the Desmosedici gives him hope for the future.
“I have good memories of the test at Valencia. I was riding the Ducati with a Yamaha style and despite still being the first version of the 2024 Ducati you could already feel the potential, power and strength of the package, so I can't wait to get on the bike tomorrow" admitted the 29-year-old, who has studied as much data as possible to try to speed up his learning: “It was very simple to realize that the bike is incredible and while recovering from the injury I tried to follow the sessions as much as possible and I also had the opportunity to come to Qatar and see firsthand the level of the bikes and everyone. When I was at home I had a lot of time to talk to my crew chief about the bike and everything."
Despite having in his hands what promises to be the best bike of the entire lineup, Morbido doesn't want to have any illusions about his current potential.
“The bike is the best and I would love to be in the top six or eight in every session, but I don't know if it will happen. This is a dream and I won't abandon it, but I know that it will be virtually impossible for it to happen because the competition and the level are very high" admitted the Ducati rider, who then explained how the recovery from the injury has also affected him at training: “I did the maximum that allowed me to recover from my injury, which was quite serious. I couldn't push and even when I did cardio exercises, for example, I couldn't run. It was a completely new and different recovery from the past and it is an experience that I do not want to repeat in the future. There have been worse parts in the injury. The story of it, for example. I spoke with Marc and he told me how he found me on the track and what was going on," he said. "The happy part of it is nothing that everybody was afraid was going to happen happened. Thank god. The happy part was to recover from it and try to prepare a season on the bike that I could prepare a season on."
Morbidelli still does not know what the exact dynamics of his accident were, but he is convinced that no interventions are needed on the run-off areas or the circuit, in view of the Portuguese GP.
"Portimao is a rollercoaster. It's a particular track and can be very dangerous sometimes. But it's very fun and very dangerous, as this sport is. It's a fun track and can be very dangerous at times, as this sport is. But I never touched Portimao's gravel in my life. I swear. Even the last time I didn't touch the gravel. Just touched the tarmac, pretty strongly with my head - he stated - I don't know exactly what happened. It was not clear. It was an out-lap and the injury is pretty strange and the crash was pretty strange. But I don't remember, not clear images. I'm just happy that everything went like it went.”
