Franco Morbidelli reveals amusing incident the first time he rode with Valentino Rossi
Pramac MotoGP rider shares memories of his first time riding with Rossi
Franco Morbidelli says he was so amazed by MotoGP legend Valentino Rossi that he crashed the first time they shared a track.
Current Pramac rider Morbidelli was one of the earliest members of Rossi’s VR46 Academy, which the nine-time world champion set up over a decade ago to help nurture young Italian racing talents.
Morbidelli became the VR46 Academy’s first world champion in 2017 when he secured the Moto2 crown, was the first to make it to MotoGP and the first to win a race in the top class.
Speaking to MotoGP’s podcast prior to last weekend’s Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, Morbidelli revealed an amusing anecdote about the first time he shared a track with Rossi.
“For sure, at the beginning when I saw Vale for the first time… I remember when I saw Vale for the first time on track I crashed because I was so flashed that I ended up on the ground,” he said.
“For sure, with time this thing fades away, but at the same time when you are with him and you stop and think what the guy is capable of and what the guy has achieved, and how the guy does it every single second of his life, you get amazed. So, I still get it.”
Morbidelli’s route into grand prix racing was unconventional, with the Italian racing in European Superstock 600 - where he was champion in 2013 - before making it to Moto2 in 2014.
On how he first came to meet Rossi, Morbidelli said: “I was a young rider, racing with mini bikes.
“And my father, being a former rider of the 70s, he raced in this area of Pesaro.
“So, when things strated to become more series and it looked like I was going to sort of be a rider, he decided to give me the best environment he encountered in his career.
“So, we moved from Rome to Pesaro, and this is the area where great champions grew up, where the best rider in history - according to me - has grown up.
“So, we moved here, and by some contacts my father asked Graziano [Rossi] if I could train with them.
“I was 12 and I was already training with [Marco] Simoncelli, with Vale. I was crazy as hell as a rider, I was 12 and I was riding a Yamaha 450 and I was giving them battle already.”
Morbidelli will, for the first time in his career, race with Rossi’s team in the world champion as he moves to the VR46 squad to ride the 2024-spec Ducati.
