Fourth Front Row Start of the Year for Franco Morbidelli

24-10-2020

Fourth Front Row Start of the Year for Franco Morbidelli

Franco Morbidelli and Fabio Quartararo to start Gran Premio de Teruel second and sixth.

PETRONAS Yamaha Sepang Racing Team’s Franco Morbidelli will start the Gran Premio de Teruel from the front row of the grid, after setting the second fastest time in qualifying – just 0.063secs shy of pole. Team-mate Fabio Quartararo will be starting from sixth.

Morbidelli set an impressive 1min 47.333secs lap during FP3, which put him at the top of the timesheets and straight through to Q2. The Italian immediately set a time in qualifying that put him on the front row and then improved this further in his second run, setting a 1min 46.945secs lap. Franco will start tomorrow’s race from second, his fourth front row start of the year.

A strong FP3 session for team-mate Quartararo saw him end the 45 minutes third with a 1min 47.401secs lap, securing an immediate place in Q2. The Frenchman also had a good start to qualifying, staying at the sharp end during the first runs. Experiencing a speed wobble going into his final flying lap, Fabio secured a second row start after setting a final time of 1min 47.326secs – placing him sixth.

The MotoGP riders will be on track for Warm Up at 9.50am local time (4.50pm MYT), with the lights going out for the 23-lap race at 1pm local time (8pm MYT).

Franco Morbidelli

"It was a great lap and I really had fun out there today, I had a good feeling on the bike. We worked well together, like we did last weekend, and we’re on a good path. I think tomorrow I need to be a bit sharper in the first laps and increase our pace, compared to the last race. FP4 was good to look at the tyres, as we need to make our choice for tomorrow and we need to find the right setting for the race. I do think things are a bit clearer now, especially with the data from last weekend as well. We used the soft tyre for the time attack and we were looking at the medium front for the race tomorrow. Still, we need to wait and see what happens, but being on the front row is good and hopefully it will be a great race."

Fabio Quartararo

"We have changed quite a few things this weekend, which was positive for our race pace but maybe not so great for qualifying. It didn’t feel as good as last weekend but, at the end of the day, the most important thing is the race pace. I think we have made a step forward, but there is still more to do. Qualifying wasn’t too bad, but now it’s time to focus on the race tomorrow. This is a circuit where I have always struggled, Valencia and Portimão should be better, but I will do my best to finish with as many points as possible, and hopefully ahead of our rivals. We need to look at our pace with the used tyre in Warm Up tomorrow, with the aim of increasing our potential in the race."