Franco Morbidelli

Franco Morbidelli (born 4 December 1994 in Rome) is an Italian motorcycle racer. He was the European Superstock 600 champion in 2013 and the Moto2 World Champion in 2017.

Franco Morbidelli
Morbidelli at the 2016 Australian Grand Prix
Nationality	Italian
Born	4 December 1994 Rome, Italy
Current team	Petronas Yamaha SRT
Bike number	21
Motorcycle racing career statistics MotoGP World Championship Active years 2018– Manufacturers Honda (2018) Yamaha (2019–) Championships 0 2020 championship position 2nd (158 pts) Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 49 3 5 2 1 323 Moto2 World Championship Active years 2013–2017 Manufacturers Suter (2013) Kalex (2014–2017) Championships 1 (2017) 2017 championship position 1st (308 pts) Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 71 8 21 6 13 686

Early life

Morbidelli was born in Rome to a Brazilian mother, Cristina, and an Italian father, Livio Morbidelli. The elder Morbidelli himself was a former motorcycle racer, finishing runner-up in the 80cc and 125cc classes of the Italian national championships. Livio Morbidelli recognized his son's potential from a young age but did not have the resources to support a racing career. Through an old racing companion Graziano Rossi, father of 9-time world champion Valentino Rossi, Livio Morbidelli learned of the motorcycle training hotbed in Tavullia. The family sold their home in Rome and moved to Tavullia to support Franco's race career ambitions. This training with Rossi became the precursor to what is now known as the VR46 Academy for racers, of which Morbidelli later became the first official member.[1]

Despite the common misconception, he is not related to Giancarlo Morbidelli, manufacturer of the Morbidelli Grand Prix racing bikes, or his son, former Italian F1 driver Gianni Morbidelli.[2]

Career

Early career

As a teen, Morbidelli was poised to enter the Spanish CEV 125cc championship, one of the main feeder series for a Grand Prix motorcycle career. However a lack of funding prevented him from entering. He instead found a ride in the European Superstock 600 championship for 2011 and 2012. In January 2013, Morbidelli's father died of suicide. Morbidelli found a seat at Team Italia aboard a Kawasaki for a third season in the class in 2013, ultimately winning the championship with 2 wins and 5 podiums.[1]

Moto2 World Championship

As a result of his success in the Superstock championship, Morbidelli earned a place as a replacement rider for Gresini in 3 rounds of the Moto2 championship.[1] He joined the Moto2 class full-time in 2014 with the Italtrans Racing Team and outscored his more experienced teammate and former 125cc Champion Julián Simón. He stayed with the team in 2015 and got his first podium finish at the Indianapolis Grand Prix. In 2016, he joined the Marc VDS Racing Team, partnering Álex Márquez. After a slow start, he finished the season strongly with 5 consecutive podium finishes, 8 podiums in total and finished 4th in the standings. For 2017, he was a favourite for the title and took his first win at the opening race at Qatar. He won a total of 8 races with 4 additional podium finishes as he won the 2017 Moto2 World Championship with Marc VDS after his closest championship contender Thomas Lüthi was declared unfit for the Malaysian GP following a crash at qualifying.[3]

Marc VDS Racing Team (2018)

Morbidelli moved up the MotoGP class in 2018 still with the Marc VDS team on the Honda bike. He was partnered by his 2017 Moto2 title rival Lüthi. He finished the season in 15th place and as rookie of the year, just ahead of Hafizh Syahrin on the Tech3 Yamaha, while his team-mate Lüthi failed to score a single point that season on the same machinery.

Petronas SRT (2019—present)

For 2019, as Marc VDS left the premier class, Morbidelli signed with the newly-formed Petronas SRT team on a two-year deal. He would ride an "A-spec" satellite Yamaha alongside rookie Fabio Quartararo.[4] With 115 points, he finished 10th in the riders' championship.

Just before the delayed start to the 2020 season, Petronas SRT announced that Morbidelli had been signed on a further two-year deal, meaning he would stay with the team.[5] In this season, Morbidelli still riding with a 2019-spec Yamaha, whilst his team-mate, Fabio Quartararo, riding with the factory-spec Yamaha. In August 2020 at the Austrian Grand Prix, Morbidelli's motorcycle collided with that of Johann Zarco while the two fought through turn 2. Despite the dramatic crash which resulted in a red flag, Morbidelli was unharmed.[6] He achieved his first MotoGP podium at the Czech round[7] and his first victory just three races later at San Marino.[8] He took his second career win at the Teruel Grand Prix, setting a new track race lap record on the way and solidifying himself as a contender for the riders' championship.[9] At the following European Grand Prix, Morbidelli struggled in qualifying and then in the race battling rising tire pressures, ultimately limping home in 11th while title rival Joan Mir took his first career win, all but extinguishing Morbidelli's title hopes.[10] At the second Valencia round the following week, Morbidelli bounced pack to take his second career pole position and converted it to his third career win, staving off a last lap attack from Jack Miller. Mir finished in 7th place, sufficient to clinch the championship ahead of Morbidelli.[11] At the final round in Portugal, Morbidelli finished the season with his fifth podium of the season to end the championship as runner-up to Mir by 13 points.

Career statistics

By season

Season	Class	Motorcycle	Team	Race	Win	Podium	Pole	FLap	Pts	Plcd
2011	European Superstock 600	Yamaha YZF-R6		4	0	0	0	0	32	17th
2012	European Superstock 600	Yamaha YZF-R6	Bike Service Racing Team RCGM Team	8	0	1	1	0	74	6th
2013	European Superstock 600	Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R	San Carlo Team Italia	10	2	5	2	1	154	1st
Total				22	2	6	3	1	260

By class

Class	Seasons	1st GP	1st Pod	1st Win	Race	Win	Podiums	Pole	FLap	Pts	WChmp
European Superstock 600	2011–2013	2011 Monza	2012 Nürburgring	2013 Portimão	22	2	6	3	1	260	1
Total	2011–2013				22	2	6	3	1	260	1

Races by year

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position, races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Bike	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Pos	Pts
2011	Yamaha	ASS	MNZ 4	MIS Ret	ARA	BRN	SIL	NÜR	IMO 6	MAG	POR 7	17th	32
2012	Yamaha	IMO 7	ASS	MNZ 9	MIS 15	ARA	BRN 6	SIL 7	NÜR 3	POR 5	MAG 5	6th	74
2013	Kawasaki	ARA 6	ASS 7	MNZ 6	POR 1	IMO 2	SIL1 4	SIL2 14	NÜR 1	MAG 2	JER 2	1st	154

By season

Season	Class	Motorcycle	Team	Race	Win	Podium	Pole	FLap	Pts	Plcd
2013	Moto2	Suter	Federal Oil Gresini Moto2	3	0	0	0	0	0	NC
2014	Moto2	Kalex	Italtrans Racing Team	18	0	0	0	0	75	11th
2015	Moto2	Kalex	Italtrans Racing Team	14	0	1	0	2	90	10th
2016	Moto2	Kalex	EG 0,0 Marc VDS	18	0	8	0	3	213	4th
2017	Moto2	Kalex	EG 0,0 Marc VDS	18	8	12	6	8	308	1st
2018	MotoGP	Honda	EG 0,0 Marc VDS	16	0	0	0	0	50	15th
2019	MotoGP	Yamaha	Petronas Yamaha SRT	19	0	0	0	0	115	10th
2020	MotoGP	Yamaha	Petronas Yamaha SRT	14	3	5	2	1	158	2nd
Total				121	11	26	8	14	1009

By class

Class	Seasons	1st GP	1st Pod	1st Win	Race	Win	Podiums	Pole	FLap	Pts	WChmp
Moto2	2013–2017	2013 San Marino	2015 Indianapolis	2017 Qatar	71	8	21	6	13	686	1
MotoGP	2018–present	2018 Qatar	2020 Czech Republic	2020 San Marino	50	3	5	2	1	323	0
Total	2013–Present				121	11	26	8	14	1009	1

Races by year

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Class	Bike	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	Pos	Pts
2013	Moto2	Suter	QAT	AME	SPA	FRA	ITA	CAT	NED	GER	IND	CZE	GBR	RSM 20	ARA	MAL	AUS	JPN 18	VAL 17			NC	0
2014	Moto2	Kalex	QAT 25	AME 17	ARG 13	SPA 20	FRA 10	ITA 10	CAT 21	NED 24	GER 6	IND Ret	CZE 8	GBR 6	RSM 7	ARA 5	JPN 7	AUS 13	MAL Ret	VAL 21		11th	75
2015	Moto2	Kalex	QAT 5	AME 5	ARG 5	SPA 6	FRA 5	ITA Ret	CAT 8	NED 19	GER Ret	IND 3	CZE 10	GBR	RSM	ARA	JPN	AUS 11	MAL 15	VAL Ret		10th	90
2016	Moto2	Kalex	QAT 7	ARG 25	AME 14	SPA 4	FRA 4	ITA 8	CAT 11	NED 3	GER Ret	AUT 2	CZE 8	GBR 2	RSM 5	ARA 3	JPN 3	AUS 2	MAL 2	VAL 3		4th	213
2017	Moto2	Kalex	QAT 1	ARG 1	AME 1	SPA Ret	FRA 1	ITA 4	CAT 5	NED 1	GER 1	CZE 8	AUT 1	GBR 3	RSM Ret	ARA 1	JPN 8	AUS 3	MAL 3	VAL 2		1st	308
2018	MotoGP	Honda	QAT 12	ARG 14	AME 21	SPA 9	FRA 13	ITA 15	CAT 14	NED DNS	GER WD	CZE 13	AUT 19	GBR C	RSM 12	ARA 11	THA 14	JPN 11	AUS 8	MAL 12	VAL Ret	15th	50
2019	MotoGP	Yamaha	QAT 11	ARG Ret	AME 5	SPA 7	FRA 7	ITA Ret	CAT Ret	NED 5	GER 9	CZE Ret	AUT 10	GBR 5	RSM 5	ARA Ret	THA 6	JPN 6	AUS 11	MAL 6	VAL Ret	10th	115
2020	MotoGP	Yamaha	SPA 5	ANC Ret	CZE 2	AUT Ret	STY 15	RSM 1	EMI 9	CAT 4	FRA Ret	ARA 6	TER 1	EUR 11	VAL 1	POR 3						2nd	158

References

1. Garcia Casanova, Germán (5 November 2017). "How Morbidelli overcame tragedy to become Moto2 champion". Motorsport.com. Retrieved 5 October 2020.
2. "Franco Morbidelli is not part of the MotoGP Dynasty of the same name". Speedweek.com (in German). 7 November 2013.
3. Patterson, Simon (29 October 2017). "Moto2: Champion Morbidelli crowned early as Luthi ruled unfit". Motorcycle News. Bauer Consumer Media Ltd. Retrieved 29 October 2017.
4. Cobb, Haydn (24 August 2018). "Morbidelli, Quartararo revealed in Petronas Yamaha presentation". crash.net. Retrieved 9 December 2019.
5. McLaren, Peter (13 July 2020). "Petronas Yamaha re-signs Morbidelli". Crash. Retrieved 13 July 2020.
6. Jonathan Hawkins and Don Riddell. "Brad Binder: Cheating death and creating MotoGP history". CNN. Retrieved 19 August 2020.
7. Duncan, Lewis (9 August 2020). "Czech Republic MotoGP: Binder stuns for KTM to take maiden win at Brno". Autosport.com. Retrieved 17 August 2020.
8. "Morbidelli wins first MotoGP race at San Marino". ESPN.co.uk. 13 September 2020. Retrieved 22 September 2020.
9. Duncan, Lewis (25 October 2020). "MotoGP Teruel: Morbidelli wins as Mir strengthens championship lead". Autosport.com. Retrieved 25 October 2020.
10. Duncan, Lewis (9 November 2020). "Morbidelli forced to ride in "safety mode" due to pressure issue". Motorsport.com. Retrieved 22 November 2020.
11. Duncan, Lewis (15 November 2020). "Valencia MotoGP: Mir crowned champion as Morbidelli wins last-lap thriller". Autosport.com. Retrieved 22 November 2020.

External links

• Franco Morbidelli at eWRC-results.com
• Franco Morbidelli at MotoGP.com
• Franco Morbidelli at WorldSBK.com
• Franco Morbidelli at AS.com (in Spanish)