Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP‘s Fabio Quartararo and Franco Morbidelli didn‘t have the Friday they had hoped for at the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit. The teammates used today‘s track time to find speed and ended in 17th and 22nd place in the Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix Practice timesheets.
Despite a difficult morning session at the Phillip Island track that saw Quartararo finish in 18th place, he was quick to get onto the pace in the afternoon Practice session. He briefly held second place with his first lap before slowly being pushed outside the top 10. The Frenchman used the next 45 minutes to make setting tweaks and put them to the test in the final 10 minutes. The number-20 was flashing various orange sectors in the live timing, but ultimately didn't have the pace to secure a direct place in Q2. His 1‘28.937s, set on lap 26/27, had him finish in 17th place in the Practice timesheets, 0.994s from the top.
Morbidelli had completed the FP1 session in 19th place and, after a strong benchmark lap in the Practice session, found himself in that same position once more. The Italian got to work and used the afternoon track time to try to improve his race pace, but he struggled to make progress and dropped to the bottom of the live timing. He didn‘t find as much time as he had hoped with the soft tyre either during his time attack. Morbido‘s 1‘29.908s, set on lap 20/21, left him in 22nd place in the Practice rankings, 1.965s off today‘s fastest time.
The Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Team will be back tomorrow for the Saturday MotoGP sessions. Due to the weather forecast for Sunday, it was decided to switch the Sprint and the Race. The new Saturday schedule looks as follows: FP2 will be held from 10:10 – 10:40 GMT + 11, followed by the qualifying sessions from 10:50 – 11:30, and the Race, which starts at 15:10.
