Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Takes Double Top-10 Result on San Marino GP Friday
Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Takes Double Top-10 Result on San Marino GP Friday
oday, Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP started their second home race showing good form in the Friday free practice sessions. Riders Fabio Quartararo and Franco Morbidelli spent the day preparing dry set-ups for Sunday‘s Gran Premio di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini and securing a double top-10 result in the combined FP timesheets, securing fifth and tenth place.
Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP‘s Fabio Quartararo was quick to show his hand on the Friday free practice sessions, topping the timesheets for most of FP1 and FP2. He ultimately ended the day in fifth place. Franco Morbidelli booked solid progress, turning a P17 in FP1 into a P10 in FP2.
It was a cloudy start to the San Marino GP, but Quartararo was radiating confidence and ready to put his mark on the race weekend early on. Less than a third into the FP1 session, he took over the top spot with a 1‘33.075s and later improved to a 1‘33.069s and 1‘32.968s, all whilst on the same long run. He shaved off more time in the remainder of the session, saving the best for last. A 1‘32.313s on lap 23/23 earned him first place, 0.224s ahead of his closest rival.
The reigning World Champion continued where he left off in the afternoon. He was back at the top of the rankings in no time, but soon the competition got heated in the bright sunshine. With happy memories of last year‘s Title victory spurring him on, Quartararo was back in the P1 before the time attack commenced. He put his head down once more and produced a 1‘31.843s on his 21st and final lap. It earned him fifth place, 0.326s off today‘s fastest time.
Morbidelli started his home GP pushing hard and came close to a top-10 position midway through the morning session. However, he too was a rider that experienced a few wobbles in FP1 due to the lack of grip on track after yesterday‘s heavy rainfall. He ended the session in 17th place with a best time of 1‘33.562s, set on lap 13/24, 1.249s from first.
With the grip improving after the morning sessions, Morbido found some speed at the start of FP2. But with the pace picking up, it was not enough to move him up to a place in Q2 in the provisional combined FP standings. The Italian got to work until it was time to put his set-up tweaks to the test in the final five minutes. He pushed hard and posted a 1‘32.242s on lap 18/18 which put him in tenth place in the FP2 and combined FP results, 0.725s from the top.
Fabio Quartararo
Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP
"I'm really happy! On the used medium tyres, I managed to get a 1'31.8s, so basically the same time we got with the new softs. For sure we can find some more improvements tomorrow. My goal is to fight for the best result possible. I don't care too much about not finishing at the top today, but it was a shame that we didn't get a good taste of the potential of the soft tyres this afternoon. The most important thing for tomorrow is to be in Q2 straight away. That way, in case it rains in the afternoon, we limit the potential damage. But I think, we made massive improvement in the wet this year compared to last year, with the bike and myself, so it doesn't matter to me if it will be wet or dry."
Franco Morbidelli
Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP
"It was a good day for us. I felt quite good this morning, and I could improve this afternoon, especially with the soft tyre. We are making steps forward. I am able to extract a decent potential from the bike now in some moments, so we got to keep going on this path and keep going. We'll try to improve and consolidate what we have already."
Massimo Meregalli
Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP, Team Director
"In general it was a pretty good day for our team. Fabio clearly has good speed and good pace from the get-go. Overall, his package is already looking strong. Today we‘ve examined where we can find further improvements, so we have a margin to work with. As for Franco, this is his home GP, and we would like nothing better than to see him have a good race weekend. He found a big chunk of time in FP2 compared to FP1, and that helped him get into the top 10. All in all, it‘s a positive start, but the times are always very close together here in Misano. For now, it seems like FP3 will also be dry, so the fight for a place in Q2 is not over yet. We will again bring our A-game tomorrow morning, to hopefully have both riders in the top 10 again and give them the chance to secure the best starting position possible."
