IT WAS a fairytale weekend for PETRONAS Yamaha Sepang Racing Team’s Franco Morbidelli, who took his first MotoGP race win in front of his home fans at Misano in the San Marino GP, and scored a victory for Brand Malaysia.
Morbidelli produced a dominant display to win the San Marino Grand Prix on Sunday, September 13, 2020. The Italian rider who started second on the grid, finished in 42 minutes, 2.272 seconds to comfortably beat Pramac Racing’s Francesco Bagnaia and secure his first MotoGP win.
The relaxed smile after Morbidelli’s victory is as sweet as the lines he drew with his M1 at Misano.
After a year spent in Quartararo, Franco took his ‘revenge’, showing class and maturity. His race was a samba between the curbs, to keep faith with his Brazilian ancestry, at a pace that no one was able to keep. The reward was a victory, his first in MotoGP, as reported by Matteo Aglio for gpone.com.
During his winning speech earlier, Morbidelli said: “I am very happy: I was trying to make a good qualifying lap and I achieved it! At the finish line I was looking at the big screen, and I saw myself in first and I was hoping it would be my first pole position, and at my home GP,
“I have always dreamed of it but I have never been obsessed with it. I have always looked only to the next step to take and this weekend was the victory. I focused on every little detail to prepare for the race and once I started, I felt good, I was fluid and consistent. A beautiful feeling.”
Morbidelli was the European Superstock 600 champion in 2013.
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.
This year’s MotoGP has seen 12 different riders stand on the podium for first, second, and third across six races in 2020, with eight races left in the calendar.
