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He seems dull and with no desire to speak. Not the Franco Morbidelli we usually know, or the smiling one with his Brazilian mood. Overwhelming, to say the least. Two journalists pointed this out to him during his press conference at the end of the day, and the Petronas rider couldn’t hide it: “You guys can capture every nuance of my character. I’d like to have you in my house,” he said smiling. “Maybe I’m a bit slack. I’m not at a time of maximum joy, but nothing serious.”
Then his attention shifts back to the track. At the end of Friday, the rider from Tavullia is second, only 21 thousandths behind Zarco’s Ducati.
“Even if it doesn’t mean anything, I think it’s the best Friday this year,” he said. “Today I followed Ramon’s instructions, and his was a good strategy, since it paid off in the end.”
The start is undoubtedly encouraging, even if Franco prefers to keep his feet on the ground.
“When a rider races on a track he likes, he usually goes faster. Here, in Barcelona, there’s little grip and, in these conditions, we’re in less bad shape than the others. I’m thinking, for example, of other tracks, such as Brno, Aragon, and Valencia. In fact, it seems that we make less effort with little grip, and I hope it’ll be an advantage for the weekend.”
The Petronas rider wants to turn the page in Spain and start again after a bittersweet weekend at Mugello.
“Mugello and Barcelona are very similar but, last week, I was losing a lot on the straight, especially compared to the other Yamahas, while the situation is different here. So much so that I'm even close to their level. With motorcycles, some things you find hard to explain. Motorcycling is not an exact science. But we have say that today is only Friday, and we have to wait, even if the situation today is better. Sometimes it’s also necessary to find that alchemy, but it doesn’t happen in some cases.”
