Morbidelli Jumps Ship to VR46 After Frustrating MotoGP Season at Pramac
Pramac Racing rider Franco Morbidelli has revealed that there is room for him to improve after a challenging year where his best finish was a podium finish in the Sprint race at Misano, despite racing on Ducati's dominant Desmosedici GP24 bike. In 2025, Morbidelli will move to VR46, where he will have the opportunity to race on the same bike. He remains determined to rediscover the "missing" element he felt was absent throughout this season, an aspect he believes is crucial for improving his performance and consistency in the upcoming championship.
Morbidelli switched to Pramac after struggling for two years at Yamaha. However, with Pramac becoming a Yamaha satellite team next year, Morbidelli chose to sign with Valentino Rossi's MotoGP team. His Pramac teammate Jorge Martin, who secured his first MotoGP championship this year, will move to Aprilia next season, while Jack Miller and Miguel Oliveira will race for Pramac.
The Italian rider remains optimistic about the 2024 season despite a challenging start, marked by a severe crash early in the year that forced him to miss all pre-season testing and delayed his adaptation to the new campaign. He said:
“Overall [it] was a great year for the whole team. It was a great year for me as well.
“I came back to fight for top spots and I’m really close to top spots. I’m looking forward to making these last steps that allow me to get there and catch wins and podiums as I would like to – and consistently, as I would like to.
“But overall it was a great year for the team and me as well. We did a great comeback from the beginning of the year, from past two years. It’s a positive season.
“I lost some points [at the beginning of the year]. I think I could have fought for P5 in the championship. Not P4, not P3, neither P2 or P1. But P5, I could have fought for it.”
Morbidelli reveals he will work with his new team next year to identify and fill the missing element since he will be riding the same bike. He added:
“I didn’t manage to win this year. I got a podium just once in a sprint race [at Misano]. For sure there is room to improve. There are still things to manage well.
“Also because it always seems like I’ve got the speed but [there was] always something missing in a race.
“Probably I need to work better with the team, work better for arranging the setting and things for the race.”