PETRONAS Yamaha Sepang Racing Team’s Franco Morbidelli and Fabio Quartararo completed the first day of the 13th round at Circuit Ricardo Tormo, as they prepare for the second race in a row at the Spanish track. Morbidelli ended the opening day of the Gran Premio de la Comunitat Valenciana eighth, with team-mate Quartararo 16th.
Enjoying the near perfect track conditions, Morbidelli started FP1 with a lap that placed him at the top of the timings. At the end of the session, Franco held the second fastest time of 1min 30.944 – 0.115secs shy of the top. FP2 proved to be another tight session, which saw Franco immediately at the top of the timesheets. The Italian, who focused on race pace, did not improve upon his time from the morning, setting a 1min 31.125secs lap, and ended the day eighth.
The opening 15 minutes of FP1 saw Quartararo hold steady inside the top-ten, where riders were only separated by the smallest of margins. At the end of the session, the Frenchman’s 1min 31.617secs lap placed him 16th. Working through a variety of set-up options, Fabio spent the majority of FP2 finding the best feeling. His fastest lap of 1min 31.326secs, which was only 0.704secs off the top, placed him 16th in the session and overall.
FP3 for Franco and Fabio will kick off at 10.55am local time (5.55pm MYT) tomorrow, before qualifying gets underway at 2.50pm local time (9.50pm MYT).
