The Italian first injured his knee in a training accident last month, first known to the world when he fell while swapping bicycles in Barcelona.
Morbidelli admitted during the Germany weekend that he was evaluating surgery before worsening his meniscus and anterior cruciate ligament injury in another training incident on Tuesday.
The injury turned out to be serious enough to justify having to sit out the ninth round of the 2021 season at Assen that weekend.
SRT has now confirmed that Morbidelli will have an operation on his left knee on Friday.
“Following the aftermath of a previous injury that recurred during a training session on Tuesday, and given the results of the tests carried out these days, Franco has decided to have an operation tomorrow, Friday June 25th” , it says in a short statement read by SRT.
“Professor Maurilio Marcacci and his team will step in to resolve the problem of the meniscus and anterior cruciate ligament of Franco’s left knee.
“More recovery time updates will follow.”
Franco Morbidelli, Petronas Yamaha SRT
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
This weekend’s Dutch TT is the first race Morbidelli will miss since the 2018 German GP when he broke his wrist in a fall in Assen and was also excluded from this event.
Morbidelli’s place at the SRT this weekend will be taken by Yamaha World Superbike rider Garrett Gerloff.
The American will make his MotoGP race debut this weekend, but will make his second premier class appearance after taking part in the Yamaha factory team’s Friday practice in Valencia on Friday’s practice in the place of Valentino Rossi on the Yamaha factory team.
Gerloff was dropped off after the run on Friday when Rossi – who missed two races with COVID-19 – successfully passed a COVID test.
The American will be the first rider from his country to compete in MotoGP since the late Nicky Hayden in Australia in 2016 and will make his racing debut at the same track where Ben Spies last Grand Prix win for 2011 got an American.
Regarding his Assen weekend, Gerloff admitted on Thursday that it was “strange” to share a garage with nine-time Grand Prix World Champion Rossi.