Morbidelli scores valuable points in home race at Misano

Morbidelli scores valuable points in home race at Misano

Team Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS rider Franco Morbidelli added to his championship score with 12th place. A difficult day saw Tom Luthi finish 22nd.

The 13th round of the MotoGP World Championship was held in ideal summer conditions at a sunny and warm World Circuit Marco Simoncelli.

Franco Morbidelli maintained this focus on a top ten bid after being 14th in the warm-up and was settled in ninth place after four laps on the tight 4.2 km circuit. Before a capacity attendance at his home track Morbidelli fought close battles with Andrea Iannone and Alvaro Bautista before making sure of a 12th place points finish.

Tom Luthi was placed 25th in the warm-up and knew he a faced long, hot day in the 27 lap race. From 23rd on the grid Luthi quickly realised a pre-race set-up change did not solve his turning issues. By lap eight he had moved forward to 22nd where he finished after a challenging weekend at Misano.

The next race for the MotoGP World Championship will be held on September 23: the Aragon Grand Prix at Motorland Aragon.

Franco Morbidelli: 12th, +32.941
“This 12th position means some good points at my home race. I risked a lot to stay in the top ten and pushed a lot on in the braking. But after a few laps I had some problems and had to drop my pace because I could not brake as usual and I was also losing time in acceleration.”

Tom Luthi: 22nd, +1’12.608
“The race was a disaster for me. I was struggling with turning all weekend and we had no choice but to try a big set-up change for the race after the warm-up, but it didn’t work as expected. It was not easy to finish the race, I had no chance to push. Now we must look forward to the next race in Aragon and try to find more confidence on the bike.”