Morbidelli: "A brilliant day; I hope it doesn't fade as usual"

October 21, 2022

Sepang.- The atmosphere at Yamaha is a bit turbulent after Fabio Quartararo lost, in Australia last Sunday, the leadership of the world championship. The Frenchman sees himself fighting against everything and on Thursday, in the run-up to the Malaysian weekend, he pointed to his teammate Franco Morbidelli, of whom he assured that he cannot “look at any data” and does not understand that “if I am competitive, he should be too.”

Oblivious or not to Fabio’s comments, the Italian did not speak at all about the subject but there was a response on the track since the Malaysian was one of the best Fridays of the season for the Yamaha rider. In the morning session, held in the dry, he fell just short of the top ten, while in the afternoon, in mixed conditions, he finished ahead of Quartararo.

“I have not entered Q2 for four thousandths, and that I did not put the new tires, and in the afternoon I was very fast in the wet, so I can not complain”, summarized the Roman.

FP2 started with a completely wet track and, little by little, it dried up until, in the end, the pilots were able to mount a smooth rubber. It was in wet conditions that Franco came to lead the session and was more competitive.

“I was never a wet rider. There has never been such a difference between my performances in the dry and my performances in the wet (better in the wet than in the dry). But, lately, the reactions of the bike in the wet are more the way I like it With little grip it goes well for me, but when the grip increases, I have a hard time. That’s why I go fast on Fridays, but on Saturdays, especially in qualifying, it’s the opposite. But we are working, not just going around the track.” , he left said for those who see him absolutely lost.

Despite the fact that at the end of the day, in the combined times Morbidelli finished 12th and, therefore, provisionally out of Q2, the Italian was happy.

“It was a sweet day today, and it’s a good time when you have these kinds of workouts. We always see the light at some point on the weekends, even the worst of them. But today was a particularly bright day; fade as usual”, settled the Italian-Brazilian.

Franco Morbidelli, Yamaha Factory Racing