Petronas SRT’s Franco Morbidelli will skip this weekend’s Dutch TT at Assen after injuring his knee in a training accident on Tuesday.
The Razlan Razali-run operation released a short statement on Tuesday evening revealing the Italian would skip this weekend’s upcoming contest at the Assen circuit as a result of the injury, adding only that he is currently undergoing medical assessment to ascertain the best course of action for his recovery.
The Malaysian squad will thus enter a sole M1 for Valentino Rossi for the Dutch classic, reducing the number of premier class riders entered for the encounter to 21.
Morbidelli has had a challenging first half of the 2021 campaign off the back of finishing second overall last season with three wins, the ’17 Moto2 world champion having scored a sole rostrum achieved at Jerez-so far, while he has failed to finish higher than ninth across the across the past four races-including three non-scores.
This sees him sit 11th overall in the points standings after eight races, though his absence from the Dutch TT means he could lose even further ground.
Team-mate Rossi has struggled even more, the seven-time premier class champion having grabbed a best result of tenth so far on his way to 19th in the standings, leading to rumours he may well call it quits on a competitive motorcycle racing career at years end.
The outfit’s collective struggles for outright speed so far in ’21 leave it a lowly eighth in the teams championship , level on points with Aprilia Team Gresini and ahead of only the Epsonorama Avintia and Tech 3 KTM teams having finished second overall last term.
