Masterful Ride Earns Quartararo Third Place in Mandalika Race

15-10-2023

Masterful Ride Earns Quartararo Third Place in Mandalika Race

Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP‘s Fabio Quartararo showed his MotoGP superstar pedigree today. The hot conditions didn‘t affect the top-fit Frenchman, who rallied to a third-place podium finish at the Grand Prix of Indonesia Race. Franco Morbidelli suffered an unlucky technical issue at the start but rejoined after a pit stop and still secured 14th place and 2 championship points.

Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP‘s Fabio Quartararo made the most of the Yamaha YZR-M1‘s speed at the Mandalika International Circuit on the Grand Prix of Indonesia Race day. Pushing to the limit, he secured a strong third place. Franco Morbidelli lost time when he needed to make a pit stop at the end of the second lap. However, he later headed back out on track to pick up 14th place and 2 championship points.

Quartararo had a great start from P4 on the grid and slotted into third place on the opening lap. Unable to match the pace of the front two riders, he decided on defending his position with a group of rivals bunched up behind him. He held onto third for just about two laps before he got engulfed by the charging riders. He settled into sixth place, and moved up to fifth on lap 6 when Brad Binder completed a long-lap penalty.

Around the mid-way stage, Quartararo was in his element. The hot and tough riding conditions were no issue for the Frenchman. He rode toward Aleix Espargaró and overtook him on lap 13 for fourth. On the same lap, race leader Jorge Martin crashed, putting the number-20 rider onto the podium. Lap-by-lap the Yamaha man was reeling in the front-runners fast, but ultimately couldn‘t find a way through on Maverick Viñales. Though it certainly wasn‘t for lack of trying, he finished the race in third place, 0.127s from second and 0.433s from first.

Starting from P15, Morbidelli was keen to make up ground. He had a good launch off the grid, but following some chaos in the first sector, he found himself at the back of the pack in the opening lap. Soon after, he realised that he had an electronics problem and decided to enter the pits after lap 2. He managed to rejoin the race, albeit four laps behind the rest. Nevertheless, Morbido‘s perseverance was rewarded. Displaying good speed and with other riders crashing out, the Italian was gradually climbing up the rankings and finished as high as 14th place, earning himself two championship points despite the earlier misfortunes.

Today‘s results see Quartararo keep 10th place in the overall standings with 132 points. Morbidelli remains in 12th with 79 points. The Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Team stay 6th in the team championship with 211 points, and Yamaha is now in 4th position in the constructor‘s championship with 152 points.

The Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP duo will be back in action next week for the MotoGP Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix, held at the Phillip Island Circuit, from 20th – 22nd October.

Fabio Quartararo

Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP

"I‘m super happy! The key point of my race was the warm-up lap, where I really tried to make the rear spin a lot. I knew it was a positive race. I showed my speed. But when you're fighting for podium positions you always want more. Every time it‘s possible to get a podium, it‘s great to do it! We have to keep going. We were riding on the limit, and it was really nice to finish within 0.5s from first."

Franco Morbidelli

Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP

"After a good start, I had an electronics issue and had to pull back, stop at the pit box, and rejoin the race. I rode 23 laps alone, and I was happy to see the speed I had. It was good for me and the team to finish the race anyway. We will try to bring this speed on Phillip Island Friday, and then we‘ll see what happens."

Massimo Meregalli

Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP, Team Director

"It was a difficult Race to predict. The new Michelin medium rear tyre was still largely unknown to us, and the same goes for the new track surface; but our strategy worked out well for Fabio. His good qualifying helped him, of course, but he also did a superb job. He kept his concentration and also his vigour, and it was great to see him fight at the front again, which is where we belong. This is a physically demanding track, with little time to recover and catch your breath, and it was very hot today, and the race was long – but it turns out it wasn‘t long enough. Just a few more laps could have done the trick. But, anyway, we are very pleased with today‘s result. Third place is a nice boost, as the team and Yamaha are working very hard behind the scenes. Franky was unlucky at the start of the race. His bike had an electronics issue, so he had to go back into the pits. By the time he headed back out, he was too far behind to do any more battling, which was a shame because his lap times were really good. But the data will still be valuable and every championship point counts."