Morbidelli: Wonderful to be on the podium in Jerez, Le Mans a circuit I like

Round five of the 2021 MotoGP season heads to Le Mans with Franco Morbidelli as one of the more in-form riders on the grid. 

The Petronas Yamaha rider has certainly enjoyed a return to Europe after securing fourth in Portimao, before taking his first podium of 2021 at Jerez. 

Morbidelli has been performing somewhat of a miracle on an M1 machine that’s currently the oldest bike on the grid, and while the rostrum in Andalusia was slightly fortuitous given what happened to former team-mate Fabio Quartararo, it’s hard to argue against it being a deserved result. 

Next up for the Italian is Le Mans where he won during his Moto2 championship winning campaign, however, Morbidelli has been unable to replicate a similar race finish in MotoGP with seventh his best result so far.

And although the 26 year-old crashed out of last year’s wet race - conditions that are likely to be in play again, Le Mans is a circuit he likes. 

Speaking ahead of this weekend, Morbidelli added: "Le Mans is a circuit that I like; it is where I won a Moto2 race, so I have good results from there. 

"In the Monday test in Jerez we focused on the braking and this is a circuit where you have to be really strong on the brakes. 

"Also the opening corners are quite tricky and it’s important to get the first corner right, to make the following ones easier. It’s difficult but really nice. 

"I hope we can confirm the positive feedback and feeling from the test and it can be useful for the weekend. It also felt wonderful to be back on the podium in Jerez, and I hope we can continue that in our next race this weekend."