A strong ride from PETRONAS Yamaha Sepang Racing Team’s Franco Morbidelli saw him claim his and the team’s first podium of the 2021 season at Jerez, after ending the SpanishGP in third. Team-mate Valentino Rossi battled back from a poor start to cross the line 17th.

Morbidelli proved to be strong from the moment the lights went out until the chequered flag in today’s MotoGP race. The Italian held on to his second place off the line, but dropped back to third on the fourth lap. Although Franco drifted back from the front-runners in the middle of the race, falling back to fourth momentarily, he pushed hard and started to close the gap in the final laps. Defending hard from those behind, Morbidelli began to hone in on those ahead but ultimately could not catch them and crossed the line in a solid third, claiming his first podium of the season and moving into eighth in the World Championship with 33 points.

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On the other side of the garage, team-mate Rossi didn’t have the best of starts and found himself down in 20th, after losing three places off the line. The Italian made steady progress in the opening five laps to return to his 17th place and set about trying to make it inside the points scoring positions. However, suffering with some rear grip issues, Valentino unfortunately could not find the pace to make it further up the field and, at the end of the 25 laps, he remained in 17th position at the chequered flag.

After a one-day test tomorrow, Morbidelli and Rossi will start their preparations for the fifth round of the season: the Grand Prix de France at Le Mans (14-16 May).

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ABOVE: 2021 SPanish MotoGP Franco Morbidelli

Razlan Razali
Team Principal

That was a great MotoGP race with a fantastic podium for Franco in third. We needed that result and it’s great to see him back up there. I am absolutely thrilled with this podium and we need to continue this momentum to the next race in Le Mans. It wasn’t an easy weekend for Valentino, as he couldn’t find the best feeling on the bike; but tomorrow we will have an important test to try to find an improvement.

It was also good to see Xavi finish the Moto2 race sixth, especially after the Warm Up crash this morning for Jake meant that he could not take part in the race. We hope he will get well soon.

It was a disappointing end to the weekend for our Moto3 team, with crashes for both our riders. It was especially disappointing for Darryn who was fighting for a podium and was taken out through no fault of his own.

Franco Morbidelli
3rd (+2.516)

It was an incredible race and I was able to push so hard throughout the entire race. This morning my Crew Chief Ramon [Forcada] was able to work a bit of magic to increase our grip and improve my feeling on the bike. The whole team has done a wonderful job this weekend and it meant that I was able to ride really strong and aggressively. I’m really pleased with this result and that I could reward the team with this podium. It feels wonderful to back up there, especially as the championship is a lot tougher this year, it is very competitive. I’m enjoying this moment a lot and I hope it continues in the next races.

Valentino Rossi
17th (+22.731)

It was a difficult race because I did not have the speed and I suffered a lot with grip issues, in fact the pace that I had during the race was pretty much the same as in practice. In the beginning I found it hard to stop the bike. It did improve a bit and I wanted to try to score some points, but it was not possible today. It has been a difficult start to the season, but I do think that we can be competitive, so we need to work to understand how to improve the pace. We have a test tomorrow, so we will be able to try some things then. Hopefully this will give us some answers ahead of the race in France.

MotoGP Results
Jerez – Race

POS RIDER NUMBER TEAM TIME/GAP
1 Jack Miller 43 Ducati Lenovo Team 41’05.602
2 Francesco Bagnaia 63 Ducati Lenovo Team +1.912
3 Franco Morbidelli 21 PETRONAS Yamaha SRT +2.516
4 Takaaki Nakagami 30 LCR Honda IDEMITSU +3.206
5 Joan Mir 36 Team SUZUKI ECSTAR +4.256
6 Aleix Espargaro 41 Aprilia Racing Team Gresini +5.164
17 Valentino Rossi 46 PETRONAS Yamaha SRT +22.731

View Full Results here


MotoGP Results
World Championship Standings

POS RIDER NUMBER TEAM POINTS
1 Francesco Bagnaia 63 Ducati Lenovo Team 66
2 Fabio Quartararo 20 Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP 64
3 Maverick Viñales 12 Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP 50
4 Joan Mir 36 Team SUZUKI ECSTAR 49
5 Johann Zarco 5 Pramac Racing 48
6 Jack Miller 43 Ducati Lenovo Team 39
8 Franco Morbidelli 21 PETRONAS Yamaha SRT 33
21 Valentino Rossi 46 PETRONAS Yamaha SRT 4

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