Franco Morbidelli completes his final round with Monster Energy Yamaha at the Valencia GP. After more than two very challenging seasons, his journey with the Japanese team comes to an end.

The Italian aims to conclude on a positive note, leaving behind the 16th place in Qatar. He also admits that this farewell to Yamaha will bring more emotions than usual:

– The Qatar GP didn’t go the way we wanted, but we will leave that behind us now because we need to focus on Valencia. This will be my last GP with the Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Team, which adds some extra emotion to this weekend. I want to end our run together in the best way possible and make some final nice memories with the crew, so that is the goal.

O conteúdo Say goodbye to Yamaha with more ‘nice memories’ is Franco Morbidelli’s goal for Valencia aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

Fabio Quartararo heads into the final round of the MotoGP season with the conviction and goal of maintaining the streak of good results. Next up is the Valencia GP, at the newly resurfaced Circuit Ricardo Tormo.

After two top-five finishes and a seventh place in the last three rounds, the Monster Energy Yamaha rider stated that he hopes to have a good pace again in Valencia—where he holds positive expectations regarding the new tarmac:

– My race pace in Qatar was really good. I hope that it will be like that in Valencia too. Last year didn’t go too bad there. I think this year we might be able to do well again. We have to keep a positive mindset and keep the good results going until the end of the season. I think the new surface in Valencia will be good. I heard there’s a lot of grip now, so hopefully we can make a great Sprint and Race.

O conteúdo Fabio Quartararo hopes to have a good race pace again in Valencia aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

Fabio Quartararo finished the MotoGP Qatar Grand Prix in seventh place, keeping his streak of top-ten results. However, he wasn’t particularly pleased with his performance in yesterday’s race at Losail.

The Monster Energy Yamaha rider mentioned that he did the best he could, feeling faster than the day before but struggling to fully showcase that competitiveness:

– It was a good race, a great start – it wasn’t like Saturday. But even if I felt faster than on Saturday, but on Saturday was easier to make the lap time. But it was our pace, it was the best race we could do. Then, in the last laps, to overtake Álex [Márquez] was really, really difficult. I was faster, but I couldn’t do it. I think we can be happy with our race.

O conteúdo ‘I felt faster than on Saturday, but…’ – Fabio Quartararo aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

One of the riders who was behind Jorge Martín and eventually overtook him in the MotoGP Qatar GP race was Fabio Quartararo. The 2021 champion spent some time behind the Prima Pramac rider when the Spaniard was clearly facing significant difficulties before Quartararo managed to pass him.

The French rider told the press that he isn’t aware of the reasons behind Martín’s performance issues but believes there was undoubtedly some kind of issue:

– He was struggling. He was not riding like yesterday. I don’t know which was the problem, but of course he wasn’t the same Jorge as yesterday. For sure he had a big issue, because you don’t make this kind of race less than 24 hours after. So for sure he had an issue. When I overtook him I wanted to be sure, because I didn’t want to make a mess, but he was struggling more than yesterday. The way he rides, I was faster. Yesterday I wasn’t faster than him and today I felt worse than yesterday. So I think the difference was big. But I think it’s not me that I tell you the correct answer.

O conteúdo ‘He wasn’t the same Jorge Martín as yesterday; he had a big issue’ – Fabio Quartararo aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

The second free practice of the MotoGP Qatar GP was marked by controversy between Aleix Espargaró and Franco Morbidelli. The Spanish rider from Aprilia felt hindered by the slow pace of the Monster Energy Yamaha rival in the racing line, even slapping his helmet on the track.

The gesture earned him strong criticism from Morbidelli and a six-place grid penalty for the main race in Losail. On social media, Espargaró admitted he didn’t deal well with the situation and had an unnecessary reaction, losing his temper with the Italian:

– Here I am with my leg up. The truth is, it was a day to forget, first with the incident with Morbidelli, where I had a very bad reaction. He was cruising on the track, nearly hit me twice for going in the middle of the trajectory. Then he didn’t let me back on the track, and I lost my temper with a totally disproportionate reaction and received a penalty, which in my view is too much, but I accept it because obviously the image is not good.

O conteúdo Aleix Espargaró admits he had a ‘totally disproportionate reaction’ with Franco Morbidelli aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

The second free practice of the MotoGP Qatar GP was marked by an incident between Franco Morbidelli and Aleix Espargaró, in which the Aprilia rider slapped the helmet of his rival, resulting in a penalty of six grid positions for the main race. A penalty considered insufficient by the Monster Energy Yamaha rider, who felt deeply disrespected.

Morbidelli explained to the press what happened: ‘Álex Márquez crashed in turn two and there was a yellow flag, so [Jorge] Martín in front of me slowed down, I slowed down as well. But by the time we reached turn four Aleix overtook me and then I overtook him back because I wanted to get back my original position. And then he overtook me like crazy into the turn six, almost crashing and almost making me crash. He touched me’.

Then, the Italian strongly criticized the disrespect he felt he had been subjected to by Espargaró: ‘Then when I was trying to tell him to take it easy – because as always after he banged on me, he got angry and started to make bad gestures as he always does. When I was telling him to take it easy and to chill out, he did what you saw. It’s a huge disrespect action towards me, it’s difficult to take, but I take it’.

As for the penalty given to Espargaró, Morbidelli considers it to be too light: ‘The stewards have been analysing everything and they already took the countermeasures that they thought were more right. According to me, they did nothing, because what they did actually was to put him by my side in tomorrow’s race [starting grid] and make him race in today’s race as if nothing happened. So for me they did nothing, because what he did today it’s a big disrespect towards another competitor that in other sport would have been treated in a much different way. So it’s OK, I keep going’.

O conteúdo Franco Morbidelli slams Aleix Espargaró: ‘It was a huge disrespect from him; the stewards did nothing’ aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

Early in the first lap of the MotoGP Qatar GP Sprint race, two riders were forced to retire in an incident involving a total of four bikes. The situation is under review by the race stewards.

Available footage shows Aleix Espargaró (Aprilia) being hit from behind and sent flying, with Miguel Oliveira (CryptoDATA RNF MotoGP Team/Aprilia) being the one making contact.

Enea Bastianini (Ducati) and Franco Morbidelli (Monster Energy Yamaha) were also in that area and caught up in the incident. Bastianini fell but managed to continue the race. Currently, the incident is being examined by the stewards, and it’s possible that penalties may result for one or more of those involved.

O conteúdo First-lap incident in the Qatar GP Sprint race under review by race stewards aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

In an unusual behavior, Aleix Espargaró lost his temper with Franco Morbidelli during the second free practice of the Qatar MotoGP Grand Prix.

The two collided approaching a turn, where the Italian from Monster Energy Yamaha was in front of Espargaró’s Aprilia but slower on the ideal trajectory.

Displeased, Espargaró confronted Morbidelli on the track and even slapped his helmet, a gesture that could be considered an aggression. The Spaniard was penalized six positions.

Watch the moment in question.

O conteúdo Video: The moment Aleix Espargaró aggresses Franco Morbidelli aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

Aleix Espargaró faced severe consequences. The on-track conflict with Franco Morbidelli during the second free practice in Losail earned him a six-position penalty on the starting grid for Sunday’s MotoGP race at the Qatar Grand Prix.

Following contact approaching a corner, the Spanish rider from Aprilia engaged in physical confrontation with the Monster Energy Yamaha rival, hitting his helmet.

It was an unusual behavior from Espargaró, resulting in the stewards penalizing him with a subtraction of six positions on the starting grid for tomorrow’s race. Having qualified tenth, he will start from 16th position.

O conteúdo Aleix Espargaró slapped Franco Morbidelli and received a heavy penalty aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

Fabio Quartararo topped the second free practice of the Qatar MotoGP Grand Prix. In a session where lap times were not the main focus, but rather race preparations, the 2021 champion consistently stayed at the front from the outset.

The initial leader was Raúl Fernández (CryptoDATA RNF MotoGP Team/Aprilia), ahead of Aleix Espargaró (Aprilia). Quartararo took over the lead, stronger than Álex Márquez (Gresini/Ducati) on their second attempts. Márquez later crashed at turn two, without major consequences, and was surpassed by teammate Fabio di Giannantonio.

As Quartararo managed to strengthen his lead, the same couldn’t be said for his pursuers, as Miguel Oliveira (CryptoDATA RNF MotoGP Team/Aprilia) briefly reached second place. However, he was later surpassed by Franco Morbidelli (Monster Energy Yamaha). Yamaha’s top position was eventually taken by Aleix Espargaró towards the end of the first quarter of the session.

A new change in the lead occurred with less than five minutes until the checkered flag, when Quartararo clocked in 0.073s faster than Aleix Espargaró. At the same time, Jorge Martín (Prima Pramac/Ducati) matched the lap time of the Spaniard, ultimately finishing second. Di Giannantonio finished fourth, 0.126s behind Quartararo, with Morbidelli in fifth. Further down the order, championship leader Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati) secured the tenth spot with his final lap.

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O conteúdo Fabio Quartararo beats everyone to lead FP2 at Losail aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.