Fresh from achieving their tenth podium at Brno, PETRONAS Yamaha Sepang Racing Team, with riders Fabio Quartararo and Franco Morbidelli, are heading to the Grand Prix von Österreich confident of obtaining more strong results. As current leaders in both the riders’ and teams’ championships, the squad travel to Austria in high spirits. Although the CzechGP wasn’t the best for Quartararo, with increased tyre in the race wear preventing him from making the most of his front row start, the Frenchman was still about to rack up nine more championship points.
Aware that it could be another tricky weekend, with extremely varied weather conditions predicted, Quartararo is keen to ensure that he is back on the podium on Sunday – especially as he finished third in Austria last year. Team-mate Morbidelli will arrive at the Red Bull Ring – Spielberg bolstered by achieving his first ever MotoGP podium last weekend. The Italian raced with a mature head, knowing that his tyres were dropping off, to ensure that his bike crossed the line second.
Despite the perception that the 4.3km circuit is not one of the strongest for the Yamaha YZR-M1, Franco is confident that he can still be at the sharp end of the grid and fight for another podium finish. He will arrive at the Austrian GP third in the championship.
The Grand Prix von Österreich will get underway for the MotoGP riders with FP1 at 9.55am local time (3.55pm MYT) on Friday. Sunday’s 28-lap race is due to start at 2pm local time (8pm MYT).
