Yamaha Petronas rider Franco Morbidelli will not be there when the MotoGP championship returns over the weekend of 8 August at the Red Bull Ring.

 The aim is to be back for Misano

The Malaysian team published a short tweet on Friday morning to update the fans. "Unfortunately Frankie won’t be in Austria", the message reads. "We wish him a speedy recovery and we can’t wait to have him back on the bike".

Following surgery on his left knee, Morbidelli is not yet back to full fitness and needs time to make a full recovery. This is something that Razlan Razali had anticipated in the last few days: "We want to be sure he’s 100% before he returns, so we don’t expect him to race before Misano".

We now await news as to the rider who will stand in for #21 during the two upcoming rounds at the Spielberg circuit - with Garrett Gerloff busy with the WorldSBK round at Most, Valentino Rossi could be joined by test rider Cal Crutchlow.

Translated by Heather Watson

MotoGP, Puig: “Marquez? He’s riding with an arm and a half”