English
Italiano
It is abundantly clear that the tone of Franco Morbidelli's voice is serene and stoked. Unlike what happened in last year's pre-season, his 2025 has been getting underway at Sepang. Sure, Valentino Rossi's Academy student is still going through a move, the one from Prima Pramac to Pertamina Enduro VR46, but this change has more the air of being a homecoming after years of wandering around. In addition, Franco might be changing team, but he is not changing bike, and the fruits of this continuity riding the Ducati Desmosedici GP24 with which he competed last season seem to emerge already in the Malaysian Day1, concluded by Morbidelli in fifth position +0.559s away from the top time of Fabio Quartararo.
So Franco, can you give us a summary of this first day of testing?
"It was a great day, especially for the relationship with the team. Everything went smoothly, we worked intensely and with an incredible desire to do well. This climate of feeling can be felt and it also affects the performance, in fact we went well. Much more than a positive day."
At least in the first part of the season, do you think that staying on the GP24 you already know can be an advantage?
"It is a small advantage, yes, and we will try to take advantage of it. But we've also seen that the GP25 has been going strong since day one, so I honestly don't know how much of an advantage I can have."
In this new start to the season, one can sense a Morbidelli full of determination, perhaps more so than in the past.
"I think it's the effect of the VR46 team. Racing for Valentino's team gives me extra motivation. It's an extra push that you have to feel, I feel it as well as everyone else in the box."
Speaking of Valentino, in Bathurst with the cars he immediately got the season off to a great start with a second place. Have you two been in touch?
"Yes, we saw each other on the phone. Vale did an incredible performance on a really complex track, and to go strong in that bowl of a circuit there is something extraordinary. We should not forget that he is a motorcycle racer and to have reached a level where he can compete with the 'old wolves' of cars is not trivial, but he always has a different edge and determination."
Getting back to testing, for tomorrow I imagine you already have a schedule.
"Tomorrow we will finally have some time to work with the right tires, the softs, and together we will try to continue the process of getting to know the new team. Also, last year because of the injury in training at Portimao I didn't have so much time to try what I liked more and what I liked less on the Desmosedici, so we'll take it now. These three days of testing are also something very good for me, despite having the same bike as last year."
Today, however, was an unfortunate day for several of your colleagues, including teammate Di Giannantonio. Did you get an idea of what could have led to such a high number of crashes and injuries?
"I saw a lot of hard crashes today. We have to say that it was the first day, the conditions were all in all good but a bit peculiar. I don't really know what tires the riders who crashed had, certainly the fact that due to quota issues we couldn't use the soft rubber specification that we will use in the next two days had an influence. Then we know," concluded the Italian-Brazilian, "Motorsport is dangerous, you have to be careful."
