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Rossi MotoGP protege Morbidelli could be 'another Zarco' on Yamaha

Valentino Rossi protege Franco Morbidelli could emulate Johann Zarco's MotoGP form should his mooted switch to a Yamaha bike for 2019 come to fruition, says Pramac Ducati rider Jack Miller.

Morbidelli, who graduated to MotoGP this year with Miller's former Marc VDS Honda team after winning the Moto2 title in 2017, has been heavily tipped to link-up with the rumoured Petronas-backed Yamaha satellite project.

Fellow Moto2 champion Zarco has been a revelation for the Tech3 Yamaha squad since joining in 2017 and, while Morbidelli has not scaled the same heights as the Frenchman in his debut season thus far, he has impressed by scoring all 19 of Marc VDS's points.

"It looks there's a few rookies coming in [for 2019] and there's already a couple rookies in here that are going well already, like Franky," said Miller in Barcelona.

"I'm quite interested to see where he will go because I know the bike he is riding quite well and he is doing a really good job on it at the moment.

"So I think, for example, if he was to step on a Yamaha, we could be in trouble, he could be another Zarco kicking around."

The 2019 MotoGP grid will feature at least two rookies - with Suzuki recruiting Joan Mir and Moto2 points leader Francesco Bagnaia lined up to partner Miller at Pramac.

Miller said having new additions to the grid was a positive thing for MotoGP, and contributed to making racing more frantic.

"As we've seen, the younger guys coming through always brought new blood into the championship and made the racing really exciting," added Miller.

"You get passed by [Jorge] Lorenzo or Dani [Pedrosa] that have been here for a while, it is a lot less aggressive than if you get passed somebody who is fresh out of Moto2.

"I was speaking with Cal [Crutchlow] about Franco, and Cal had a start with them in Le Mans when he was a little bit further back on the grid and he said these first couple of laps were out of control. It's nice."

Zdroj: autosport.com