Qatar Friday Practice Shoot-Out Didn`t Go to Plan for Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP

17-11-2023

Qatar Friday Practice Shoot-Out Didn't Go to Plan for Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP

The Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Team had a difficult end to the evening session at the Lusail International Circuit. Franco Morbidelli and Fabio Quartararo wrapped up today‘s Practice in 13th and 21st place respectively, putting them on the entry list for tomorrow‘s Q1.

Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Team‘s Franco Morbidelli and Fabio Quartararo were unlucky to have their best times cancelled due to yellow flags during this evening‘s Grand Prix of Qatar Practice session. It saw them end the session in 13th and 21st place respectively, on the entry list for tomorrow‘s Q1.

Morbidelli showed good pace around the Lusail International Circuit in the afternoon, ending FP1 in fifth place. However, the evening Practice didn‘t go his way. He spent a large part of the session trying to find a time improvement, but when it was time to push, yellow flags made it difficult to get in a perfect lap. The Italian clocked a 1‘53.564s on lap 14/18, which put him in 13th place, 0.721s from first.

Quartararo suffered the same fate. After a tricky start in FP1, which he finished in 11th place, he had set himself the goal of improving his pace. He was ready to show the progress he had made on his final run of the evening session, but yellow flags in Sector 4 had his time improvement cancelled. The Frenchman wrapped up the Practice in 21st place with a best time of 1‘54.260s, set on lap 11/20, 1.417s from the top.

The Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Team will be back in action tomorrow for the Saturday MotoGP sessions: FP2 will be held from 15:00 - 15:30 GMT +3, followed by qualifying sessions from 15:40 - 16:20, and the Sprint that starts at 20:00.

Franco Morbidelli

Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP

"It‘s a pity because we had the speed to go through to Q2 today, but I got a yellow flag on both my hot laps, and I couldn‘t enter the top 10. But, anyway, we will try again tomorrow. Today the speed was really good, and I‘m happy about how we were performing. Tomorrow we‘ll try to make it into Q2, do a good Sprint, and after that we will start thinking about the Race."

Fabio Quartararo

Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP

"We were not lucky with the yellow flags, but we also tried something on the first time attack that went wrong. Our lap time looks really bad in the classifications, but I think that tomorrow we will have the potential to make a great lap time. Hopefully we can get into Q2. It‘s not going to be easy, Q1 is always like a jungle. We aim to make another step. Our pace is not that bad, so I think we have great potential."

Massimo Meregalli

Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP, Team Director

"It‘s a disappointing first day of the Qatar GP. The start of FP1 was quite critical as the new track surface didn‘t provide any grip. The beginning of the day was very difficult, but the track had a big evolution in terms of grip, and during the Practice the level of grip was already quite high - which is often the case with new tarmac. We had to adjust all the controls in time for the time attacks at the end of the session. It‘s really a pity to be out of Q2 with both riders because of the yellow flags. This can happen though, and we know it, but it‘s still difficult to digest. But I believe we have the potential to enter into Q2 tomorrow, and we will use FP2 to really prepare well for Q1 because we all know how important it is to start the Sprint and the Race from as much towards the front as possible. Michelin, because of the new tarmac, brought one more specification front and rear tyre, and tomorrow we also have to evaluate these as we had no time to test them today."