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Having recharged his batteries during the summer break, Franco Morbidelli is ready to face the round at Silverstone with more optimism and awareness, derived also from the good performance he produced in the last round at Sachsenring. A real restart for the rider of the Pramac Racing team, eager to take to the track the special retro livery that will dress his Ducati to celebrate 75 years of MotoGP.
"It's a beautiful livery. It's a beautiful bike, full of history and meaning, and we hope to do it justice," commented Frankie. "I'm excited to start this second part of the season. It's going to be very challenging and important to keep up the momentum and continue our improvement curve. We are very happy with how far we have been able to progress, but we are still missing something. We will move forward in this second half of the year."
What are the areas in which Morbidelli still needs to improve? "We are still not there on the flying lap and we are still missing something in the economy of the race as well," he explained, "My best races were at Mugello and Sachsenring, and on those two occasions I missed something in the last part of the race. In the other races it was a different story because I had to try to recover from 15th place, but to stay up there in front, as I said, I still lack something on the flying lap and in the second half of the race."
While there is still something to improve on, the step forward taken by the Ducati rider between the opening race of the season and the GP at Sachsenring has been clear and evident .
"In Germany I had a completely different approach than I had in Qatar. In Qatar I had to think about a lot more things, whereas at Sachsenring I was able to focus more on performance and getting back to the top," he remarked. "The speed I had in the race at Sachsenring gave me a lot of confidence, because in the first half I came back up with a lot of pace, and that's a very positive aspect of that race."
For that very reason, this return to the track can almost be seen in the light of a real new beginning for Morbidelli.
"This is definitely a second chance. A more normal restart, without problems, with proper training and above all I arrive here without an injury that keeps me at home a month, without riding the bike. I hope everything will go smoother than in the first half of the season," commented Franco, who went on to explain how difficult it was for him to adapt to the Desmosedici's lowerer and other devices the Yamaha lacked: "It's something you have to keep under control all the time and you have to try to make as few mistakes as possible. It can sometimes slip though."
Although his future is not yet mapped out, the Italian-Brazilian does not seem to worry too much about it at the moment when he is fully focused on his work on the track.
"I'm already focusing on racing. VR46 is taking care of it and working to make sure my future has the best possible scenario," said Franco, who then concluded by commenting on his approach to the Race of Champions at WDW: "It was a nice party. I finished the race in 7th place, so I would say I took it easy."
