Franco Morbidelli: “I'm looking for P3-2-1”
“But for sure other manufacturers are going to step their game up”
Franco Morbidelli doesn’t expect the reduction in Ducati grid numbers to impact his podium goals for the new MotoGP season.
But he does believe "other manufacturers are going to step their game up".
With Morbidelli’s former Pramac team, the 2024 title winners with Jorge Martin, switching to Yamaha, there will be six instead of eight Desmosedicis.
Among them is Morbidelli, moving to VR46 and with his sights firmly set on breaking a podium drought stretching back to Jerez 2021.
“I really don't know, but I'm sure that Ducati will be up there,” Morbidelli replied, when quizzed on the reduction in Desmosedici numbers via Zoom ahead of today’s Pertamina VR46 team launch.
“It's not going to make a lot of difference to me if the Ducatis are six or eight because I'm not looking for P6-7-8. I'm looking for P3-2-1. So the number, from eight to six, is not going to affect me.
“But for sure other manufacturers are going to step their game up. They're going to improve. Our opponents are going to be better than last year and let's see how the balances are going to go.
“But we are focused on bringing the team as high as we can, with the packages we have. These are two packages, mine and of course Fabio’s [di Giannantonio, GP25] deserve to be on the top spots. So we will try to do that.”
2020 MotoGP title runner-up Morbidelli missed last year’s pre-season testing due to a head injury while training on a superbike.
Results steadily improved as he made up for lost time, culminating in fourth place at Mandalika. Remaining on the same Desmosedici GP24 this year, where can he improve?
“First of all, I will have to reconfirm the things that it looked like I improved last year, such as qualifying,” Morbidelli replied.
“Last year I was missing a lot in qualifying. I was starting on the third or fourth row and then to fight for the podium from back there is really difficult.
“But it looked like in the last two races I was able to make it better and started P4 and P5. So first of all, we have to reconfirm that improvement and then make it even better. Because P4 and 5 is good but not ideal.
“Qualifying was the main factor that affected me quite a lot last year but of course there are also things in terms of race pace I need to improve, like tyre management.”
Morbidelli claimed 13 top-six finishes in Sprint and GP races during the second half of last season on his way to ninth in the standings.
And what are his targets for 2025?
“I'm looking to improve on last year's performances, which were really good from the second-half of the season to the end,” he said.
“We made huge steps. As I said, we were starting a bit too far behind, but we had great pace in basically all races in the second half.
“So I'm looking to improve the areas that I missed last year to fight for these podiums and top positions, and bring the colours of the team as high as possible. As the team deserves.”
VR46’s only podium of last season was by Marco Bezzecchi at Jerez, but the team won three races on the way to third in the world championship with Bezzecchi in 2022.
Bezzecchi has become a factory Aprilia rider for 2025, opening up the chance for Morbidelli, the oldest member of the VR46 Academy, to finally ride for a VR46 team.
Peter has been in the paddock for 20 years and has seen Valentino Rossi come and go. He is at the forefront of the Suzuki exit story and Marc Marquez’s injury issues.
