Franco Morbidelli is not at Assen and is substituted by Garrett Gerloff for this ninth round of the season while he undergoes surgery. The Italo-Brazilian had opted for an operation on left knee and Petronas team manager Wilco Zeelenberg confirms that the surgery has taken place.
"It will be tough without him"
“We miss him and it’s sad not to have him here with us of course”, admits the Dutchman. But the rider had been carrying the knee injury for a while: “He had difficulty going from one bike to another at Le Mans and he hit his knee more than once”.
Everything has gone to plan though: “I received a message from his assistant Manuel Lucchetti and he’s had the surgery, but we have no other updates. We send him all our best wishes and hope to manage the team and the situation in the best way. It’ll be tough without him at this point of the championship though”.
Translated by Heather Watson
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