Team Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS rider Franco Morbidelli equalled his season best qualifying so far with 12th position. Teammate Luthi will start the 27 lap race from 23rd on the grid.

After overnight rain on the Adriatic Coast the circuit was washed clean but conditions were sunny and warm for qualifying at the 4.2 km Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli.

Franco Morbidelli continued his strong pace in FP3 with the seventh fastest time as he built confidence for an assault on a top ten race finish. After making it through to the QP2 session Morbidelli had only one soft rear tyre available for a single time attack.

Unfortunately in an effort to improve his time he ran outside the track limits, with a small crash on his final lap, so he did not record a time thus qualifying 12th based on his QP1 time of 1’32.454.

Tom Luthi opened Saturday with a harmless tumble in FP3 on a low grip track to be 22nd on the time sheets. In the QP1 session Luthi qualified 23rd, the Swiss rider unable to find a set-up for the precise turning needed for the tight Misano layout.

The Sunday morning warm-up will be at 9:40am with the San Marino GP set to start at 2pm.

Franco Morbidelli: 12th, 1’32.454, +0.823, 30 laps, 126 km
“I’m very happy about the job I have done today, I have a decent pace for the race and I think my home track is giving me a boost. Now we need to focus on the race and make the right decision on tyre choice, we still have two options to choose from.”

Tom Luthi: 23rd, 1’33.755, +1.366, 33 laps, 139 km
“Not an easy day with the tricky conditions and my small crash in FP3, so we had to work on improving my feeling with the bike in FP4. My main problem is with the turning and I’m hoping we will find solutions in the warm-up. For qualifying I simply did have the pace for a better lap time.”