Morbidelli takes career-first MotoGP podium at Brno

2020-08-10 08:20
Franco Morbidelli claimed his first MotoGP podium at the Grand Prix České republiky today, battling tyre wear and low-grip to finish second, moving to third in the World Championship. PETRONAS Yamaha SRT team-mate Fabio Quartararo rode a smart race in the tricky conditions, bringing his bike home in seventh and increasing his lead in the riders’ standings. Morbidelli’s result today makes it ten podiums for the team since their MotoGP debut last year.

A lightning start from Morbidelli saw him immediately take the lead on the first lap, whereupon he proceeded to lay down a series of unexpectedly fast laps. Pulling away from the rest of the field, the Italian was able to put plenty of space between him and the other riders in the opening stages of the race. As the laps continued to count down Morbidelli experienced increased tyre wear, something that has plagued every series this weekend. As Brad Binder started to close, Franco decided that battling him wasn’t worth the risk of crashing. Making no mistakes and maintaining what tyre grip was available, Morbidelli’s wise decision saw him able to cross the line second and take his first ever MotoGP podium. He also moves into third in the championship standings, eleven points behind fellow Yamaha rider Maverick Viñales.

Although Quartararo also had a great start of the line, and made it a PETRONAS Yamaha SRT one-two for the opening laps, he fell foul of the same tyre issues that many riders faced. Despite trying his hardest to find all the available grip, the Frenchman was just unable to lap at the times he needed to maintain his second place. Lap-by-lap Fabio started to lose positions and found himself back in the main pack. With other championship contenders faring worse than him, the #20 rider decided to not risk a crash and make sure to rack up as many points as possible. The strategy worked as, even though he finished seventh, Quartararo will head into the next round with an increased points lead in the riders’ standings.

PETRONAS Yamaha SRT continue to the next race, having increased the gap at the top of the teams’ championship, which takes place next weekend at the Red Bull Ring – Spielberg, Austria (14-16 August).






Razlan Razali
Team Principal





It was a very unpredictable race and we are extremely happy with Franco’s second place finish. We send our congratulations to Brad Binder and KTM as they did an amazing job. It’s a great day for Franco and we’re also fairly happy with Fabio’s result as well. Of course we need to evaluate what happened but overall we are very happy.

The Moto3 race was also an unusual one and we were hoping for a slightly better result from John. However, it was a commendable effort from him and he rode a smart race to maintain his position in the championship. I’m pleased with KIP for finishing the race, given the injury that he sustained during qualifying yesterday.

Unfortunately in Moto2 we had a technical problem with Jake’s bike, which ended his race early. With Xavi we really need to look at how we can improve because we expect more from him. We’ll have to wait and see how we go in Austria.

Source: SIC Racing Team

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