Quartararo Enjoys Fruitful Test Ahead of Second Misano Race

15-09-2020

Quartararo Enjoys Fruitful Test Ahead of Second Misano Race

Successful test for PETRONAS Yamaha SRT’s Quartararo, Morbidelli confident of more home glory.

Fabio Quartararo enjoyed a productive day of testing at Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli today, ending the two sessions with the ninth fastest time. Team-mate Morbidelli unfortunately didn’t take part due to a stomach upset.

Quartararo made his way through an extensive testing programme today, which included trialling a new exhaust and electronics system. Across the morning’s 51 laps, Fabio’s fastest time placed him eighth quickest at lunchtime with a fastest lap time of 1min 32.353secs. During that session, he also tested the new MotoGP radio communications system, which would be used only for safety reasons.

The Frenchman further improved on his time during his 56 laps completed in the afternoon, to finish the session seventh with a best time of 1min 32.336secs. The strong results have bolstered his confidence ahead of this weekend’s Emilia Romagna GP, where he hopes to make amends for the results from last time out.

The decision was made for San Marino GP winner Morbidelli to sit out of today’s test, with the Italian suffering from an upset stomach. Franco will now rest until the start of the GP, in order to be 100% fit and ready to aim for another strong result at Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli.

The MotoGP pair now only have two days before the Emilia Romagna GP gets underway, with FP1 at 9.55am local time (3.55pm MYT) on Friday. Sunday’s 27-lap race will begin at 2pm local time (8pm MYT).

Fabio Quartararo

It’s been a positive test and it feels good to be back on the bike after a tough weekend. I’m really happy with the test because we worked on our pace and on 23 or 24 lap old tyres I was setting some of my fastest laps. We’ve tested many things today and my crew have a lot to look at with the data as well now. It’s all good things to take into the race weekend. In my first run I also tested riding with the standard headset. It's a strange feeling but it was okay. I hope that we use it only for safety, not for communication with the team. I felt great all test though: we know what our weak points are, I think we will improve even more ahead of Friday and I think we will have a good race weekend.

Franco Morbidelli

It’s a pity to not have been a part of today’s test, because it would be really useful to test new settings for this weekend and the next races. This morning I didn’t feel well and, together with the team, we decided to rest and be fully ready for the start of this second race at home. We go into this race at Misano fully confident about our possibilities and willing to repeat a great result in front of the Italian fans. We are working really well together as a team and we have to continue in the same way. Last weekend was perfect; with the win and the first row on Saturday. I wish to fight for the same.

Wilco Zeelenberg

This was our last test of this season and it went quite smoothly. It is clear that our pace is quite good and we have improved in that area. We were missing two or three tenths in the time attack compared to others, but we were very strong in that area last year. We know overall it is more important to be better in the long runs than the time attack, so this was the area that we wanted to focus on. Franco had a stomach upset this morning, which is not ideal for a long day of testing. We discussed it together and decided not to start today. It is not something that worries us for the weekend, but with the next race starting Friday and another race next weekend, it was better for him not to ride today.