Franco Morbidelli “very tired, but grateful” after Qatar MotoGP

After a nightmare pre-season in which he was unable to test for his new Pramac Ducati team, Franco Morbidelli progressed from 22nd and last in FP1 to finish 18th in the Qatar MotoGP.

The Italian’s pre-season preparations were brutally halted by a head injury while training on a Superbike at Portimao in January.

Missing both the Sepang and Qatar tests, the former Yamaha rider only received the OK from doctors to return to MotoGP action a few days before the season opener.

That meant Morbidelli was not only riding the ‘full’ spec Desmosedici GP24 for the very first time in Friday practice, having tried an early version at last November’s Valencia test, but had also been advised not to ride any kind of motorcycle as a precaution following his accident.

Friday night’s second practice was then effectively lost to a rain storm before Morbidelli moved ahead of Repsol Honda’s Luca Marini in Saturday practice.

The 29-year-old was back in last place, albeit by only 0.028s, during qualifying, then finished 20th and +23.267s in the Saturday Sprint race.

Further Sunday progress saw Morbidelli reach 13th in warm-up, before effectively matching the Sprint deficit (+24.641s) in the grand prix, despite almost double the race laps, on his way to 18th in the grand prix.

“I am very tired, but so grateful that everything went smoothly this weekend and everything went the right way,” Morbidelli said.

“I feel good with the bike. I was improving, improving and catching up to the top guys [during the weekend]. But that's not important. The important thing is that everything is OK with me, my head. And now it's time to keep working and keep chasing the top guys.

“I got the ‘OK’ to come here [last] Monday. I was coming from a head concussion injury, so I was making tests to check out if I was OK. And after one month without doing anything, jumping on a bike and making a race weekend was a challenge.

“But it's a challenge that thanks to the people that thanks to all the VR46 family, all my family, the team and the bike, it was possible to do.”

The next event will be at Portimao, the scene of Morbidelli’s accident.

“It’s great. It’s a track that I like. Of course, it’s the track where I had the accident but I don't remember it,” he said.

Team-mate Jorge Martin took victory in the Sprint and was third in the grand prix.