Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Return to Mandalika Track for Round Two

16-03-2022

Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Return to Mandalika Track for Round Two

Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP‘s Fabio Quartararo and Franco Morbidelli are keen to make a strong comeback in Round 2 of the 2022 MotoGP World Championship. They look forward to greeting the incredibly passionate Indonesian fans at their first race on Indonesian soil.

Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP‘s Fabio Quartararo and Franco Morbidelli return to the scene of the second and final official IRTA winter test: the Mandalika circuit. They will be using the testing data to hit the ground running during the inaugural MotoGP round at this track this weekend.

Quartararo is highly motivated to give his 100% again at the upcoming race. An issue with tyre pressure prohibited him from showing his full potential in Qatar, making the French supertalent all the more keen to get a good result in Indonesia in front of a large fanbase.

Morbidelli is looking to make an improvement on the first race in Qatar. He‘s feeling positive he can make a big step this weekend in his results, also thanks to the testing data he collected earlier this year during the Mandalika winter test. He will be focusing on improving his start and grip to be ensured of a strong race result.

The 4.310km Pertamina Mandalika International Street Circuit was built on Lombok Island. Though the longest straight is only 507m, speed maniacs can still get their kicks at this track. Its lay-out includes 11 right and six left turns – many are fast corners, giving the riders plenty of opportunities to overtake.

The Grand Prix of Indonesia is held in the GMT +8 time zone. MotoGP's FP1 will take place on Friday afternoon from 10:50 - 11:35 local track time, followed by FP2 from 15:05 - 15:50. On Saturday, FP3 will be held from 10:50 - 11:35, FP4 from 14:25 - 14:55, and the qualifying sessions from 15:05 - 15:45. On Sunday, the Warm Up is held from 10:40 - 11:00 and the race starts at 15:00.

Fabio Quartararo

"I‘m feeling good and ready to start riding at Mandalika again. We did a good job here during the winter test. We got a lot of work done and completed many laps, so we will make good use of that. I don‘t want to dwell on what happened in Qatar, also because I know that we have a good starting point for this weekend. I will be focusing 100% on getting a good result. Our pace was good here during the test, but many of our rivals were fast, so every detail and every fraction of a second will count."

Franco Morbidelli

"We return to the Mandalika track. The IRTA test gave us some experience with this track which we can use to our advantage. We made a lot of progress during those three days and have a good understanding of how we can make the most of our package to bring out our full potential. Judging by our earlier visit, the track conditions will be improving over the course of the three days. We know that especially Sector 2 can be tricky, so we will be working on getting the balance of the bike just right to suit this circuit."

Massimo Meregalli

Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP, Team Director

"We have left the Qatar GP behind us now, but that doesn‘t mean we have forgotten about it. We‘ve learned from it and are now ready to put up a strong fight in Indonesia. The layout of Mandalika circuit suits our bikes quite well. After the test, part of the circuit has been resurfaced, and we have to see how it will work. We'll start the weekend closely similar to how we ended the test in February because both Fabio and Franky were quite satisfied about their bikes. We are definitely looking forward to this weekend. The Indonesian fans are incredibly passionate about MotoGP, and with this being the first MotoGP race here, anything can happen. The Mandalika test ended with 19 riders covered by just one second, so this should be a race to remember."