Morbidelli reflects on difficult Portuguese Grand Prix weekend
It was a tough weekend for Franco Morbidelli at the Portuguese Grand Prix, but the three-time MotoGP race winner is determined to keep pushing forward.
Despite making progress with his understanding of the GP24, Morbidelli qualified in 17th and finished 18th in the race after crashing on the opening lap. This incident also left Honda’s Joan Mir unhappy.
However, Morbidelli remains positive and is focused on improving his performance with the Ducati bike. He acknowledges that his transition from Yamaha to Ducati has been affected by the concussion he suffered in a training crash, which forced him to miss all of pre-season testing.
“What I’m missing the most now on the bike is knowledge and freedom of doing things by reflex,” Morbidelli said. “I need to think too much about engaging the devices, on the gear lever, which is different to what I’m used to.
“I’m thinking about things right now and not focusing on riding and maximising the riding. But that’s what happens when you don’t have kilometres. We are lacking that.”
Morbidelli impressed by his pace despite limitations
Despite his difficulties, Morbidelli was still able to maintain a good pace during the race, which he believes is a testament to the potential of the GP24.
“I don’t want to make comparisons because it wouldn’t be fair,” he said when asked to compare the M1 and the GP24. ”I like to remain gentlemanly on this.
“What I can say is that I feel good with this bike, very good. If you check out the rhythm also on the race, riding without freedom and thinking about many things, so riding with margin, the rhythm was still good, was still good enough to be sixth, seventh.
“That was the most impressive, I was impressed by that. I feel very good with the package and I feel a lot of potential with the package.
“It’s a matter of getting used as much as possible to being on the bike and in the shortest time possible to take out the maximum potential of the bike, which I’m still not doing.”
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