Franco Morbidelli has described 2024 as a “nice yr” for him regardless of failing to attain a grand prix podium on what was extensively considered one of the best bike on the grid.
After two torrid seasons at Yamaha’s manufacturing unit crew, Morbidelli moved to Pramac this yr alongside Jorge Martin, incomes the chance to journey Ducati’s newest GP24 prototype.
Nevertheless, a crash throughout coaching in January pressured him to overlook all official pre-season checks, which means he didn’t get to journey his new bike till the opening spherical of the season in Qatar in March.
After regularly acclimatising to the Desmosedici, the Italian started to realize promising outcomes and went into the summer time break with a fifth-place end within the German Grand Prix.
However he was by no means fairly capable of extract the tempo of the bike that powered his team-mate Jorge Martin to the title, ending up a distant ninth within the championship behind all different GP24 runners.
However Morbidelli thinks you will need to put his struggles at Yamaha into context whereas analysing his marketing campaign, suggesting he must take only one step in an effort to battle for victories for the primary time since 2020.
“General [it] was an ideal yr for the entire crew. It was an ideal yr for me as effectively,” he mentioned.
Franco Morbidelli, Pramac Racing
Picture by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Photos
“I got here again to battle for prime spots and I am actually near prime spots. I am trying ahead to creating these final steps that permit me to get there and catch wins and podiums as I want to – and persistently, as I want to.
“However general it was an ideal yr for the crew and me as effectively. We did an ideal comeback from the start of the yr, from previous two years. It is a constructive season.
He added: “I misplaced some factors [at the beginning of the year]. I feel I may have fought for P5 within the championship. Not P4, not P3, neither P2 or P1. However P5, I may have fought for it.”
Morbidelli confirmed flashes of tempo through the yr, however wasn’t fairly capable of convert his inherent velocity into outcomes. As an illustration, he rode spectacularly within the moist in Buriram to rise from eleventh to sixth early on, solely to then decide up a penalty for forcing his former team-mate Fabio Quartararo right into a crash.
The 29-year-old, who will transfer to VR46 in 2025, defined there are nonetheless some areas he must work on in an effort to carry out at his potential.
“I did not handle to win this yr. I acquired a podium simply as soon as in a dash race [at Misano]. For certain there may be room to enhance. There are nonetheless issues to handle effectively,” he mentioned.
“Additionally as a result of it all the time looks like I’ve acquired the velocity however [there was] all the time one thing lacking in a race.
“In all probability I must work higher with the crew, work higher for arranging the setting and issues for the race.”
On this article
Rachit Thukral
MotoGP
Franco Morbidelli
Group VR46
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