As the 2021 MotoGP season returns to Europe this weekend for round three at Portimao, it will be a very welcome🀅 sight for Franco Morbidelli who endured a difficult Qatar double header. 

The Petronas Yamaha rider remains one of the title favourites, but has accumulated just four💮 point🔜s heading into the Portuguese Grand Prix. 

However, the Algarve International Circu൩it is the scene of his last podium as he claimed third place during last♉ season’s final race. 

Speaking ahead of this weekend, Morbidelli said: "After being on the podium in Por🦹tugal last year, I hope that we can regain our good pace and be in conte🙈ntion for a good result again this weekend. 

"Every raceও is different though so we will have to wait and see how we are once we are out on track.&nb﷽sp;

"We have the data from la𒈔st year and we know that we were fast, so at least we🌜 will have something to use as a comparison."  

With Morbidelli once again the only Yamaha rider on a year old M1 spec machine, the next few rounds will tell us whether the 2020 package can showcase more consistenc꧅y than♔ it demonstrated last year. 

Morbidelli suffered mechanical issues during the second Qatar weekend which a⭕ffected his Friday running, but the 2020 championship runner-up believes the team is making steps in the right direction. 

"We are improving each race and we’ve been trying to understand what happened in the bike set up during o༒ur time in Qatar," added Morbidelli.&nbs๊p;

"Hopefully we hav🐈e found some improvements and can continue in a positi♋ve direction this weekend."