His next step was to move up to the European Superstock 600 Championship, winning the title in 2013. Morbidelli’s good results in that series opened the door for three wildcard rides in the Moto2 World Championship (also in 2013) at the San Marino, Japanese, and Valencian Grand Prix.

The following season he was offered a full-time spot in the series, making gradual progress before finishing fourth in 2016 and then, after taking eight wins and twelve podiums, being crowned Moto2 World Champion in 2017.

Following his inaugural year in MotoGP in 2018, Franco joined the ambitious PETRONAS Yamaha Sepang Racing Team for 2019 and showed his talent again with the Malaysian squad. Achieving his personal best finish of fifth place four times and qualifying on the front row for three races.

In 2020, Franco delivered exceptionally well. Whilst his early season performance potential was masked slightly by some technical and contact issues, he came back strong in the latter part of the season to deliver three race wins and take second in the overall rider standings, finishing as top independent rider.

2021 would have been Franco’s third season with the PETRONAS Yamaha Sepang Racing Team, but it was cut short due to a knee injury, a lengthy recovery process, and ultimately the Italian’s step-up to the Yamaha Factory team. The number-21 rider made his return to action and debuted on the Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP M1 at the San Marino GP at his much-beloved home circuit. Though the final five races of the season were physically demanding for the, at the time, still recovering Italian, he made good progress on the Factory bike. This is bound to bear fruit in the 2022 season, now that he is close to 100% fitness level again.