Following his switch from Yamaha over the winter, Morbidelli was preparing for the new season on the Ducati V4 Panigale road bike when he had a crash at Turn 9, suffering a big blow to his head.
The Italian rider had to be taken to a hospital for check-ups, where doctors discovered a small clot had developed in his head.
Due to the lengthy recovery period that followed, Morbidelli was forced to miss both pre-season tests at Sepang and Losail, putting him on the back foot for this weekend’s opening round in Qatar.
Speaking to the media for the first time since his Portimao fall in January, Morbidelli said he doesn’t have a proper recollection of what exactly ensued in the moments before and after the crash.
“[It is] not clear. It was an out-lap and the injury is pretty strange and the crash was pretty strange,” he said.
“But I don’t remember, not clear images. I’m just happy that everything went like it went. Portimao is a rollercoaster. It’s a particular track and can be very dangerous sometimes. But it’s very fun and very dangerous, as this sport is.
“There are some upgrades on the gravel but I never touched Portimao’s gravel in my life.
“I swear. Even the last time I didn’t touch the gravel. Just touched the tarmac, pretty strongly with my head.”
Jorge Martin, Pramac Racing, Franco Morbidelli, Pramac Racing
Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Morbidelli was reportedly found lying unconscious on the track by Ducati stablemate Marc Marquez, who was the first to arrive on the scene of the incident at Turn 9 before the medical crews were able to attend to him.
The Italian hasn’t been able to ride a bike since the accident in Portugal, with Friday’s opening practice session set to be the first time he will get to have running of any kind on a motorcycle in over a month.
But while the last 30 days have been painful for the 29-year-old, he considers himself lucky that he was able to recover from the incident and travel to Qatar for the start of the new season.
“There have been worse parts in the injury. The story of it, for example. I spoke with Marc and he told me how he found me on the track and what was going on,” he said. “There has been worse scenes of this injury.
“The happy part of it is nothing that everybody was afraid was going to happen happened. Thank god. The happy part was to recover from it and try to prepare a season on the bike that I could prepare a season on.”
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