Quartararo Secures Hard-Fought Fifth Place in Indonesia Sprint

14-10-2023

Quartararo Secures Hard-Fought Fifth Place in Indonesia Sprint

It was a hot and tough Sprint at the Mandalika International Circuit today. Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP‘s Fabio Quartararo put up a good fight and rode to a P5 finish. Franco Morbidelli had ups and downs during today‘s 13-lap dash. He finished in 15th place.

Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP‘s Fabio Quartararo rode both aggressively and defensively in the physically demanding Grand Prix of Indonesia Sprint to take fifth place and score five points. Franco Morbidelli battled with several rivals, and despite things not going his way, he pushed on to take 15th place.

Quartararo had a great start from P4 on the grid and got third place going into the first corner, which he held on to during the opening lap. He didn‘t have the pace to stay with the front two riders though, and a train started to form behind him. The Frenchman made his M1 as wide as possible, but he had to let Jorge Martin through on lap 2 and Marco Bezzecchi on lap 6. The Sprint then turned into a lonely ride for the number-20 rider. With a significant gap to the riders ahead and behind, he rode to the finish line to take fifth place, 3.121s from first.

Morbidelli didn‘t have the opening lap in the Sprint he had hoped for, starting from P15 on the grid. He lost a few positions, but with three rivals crashing out, the Italian found himself back in 15th place after the first two laps and in the middle of the rider group fighting for 11th place. The Yamaha man briefly held 14th, but on lap 5 and 6 it all went south. He was relegated to P17 and lost touch with the group. With Pol Espargaró dropping down the order on lap 9, and Joan Mir crashing out on the last lap, Morbido took the chequered flag in 15th position, 23.331s from first.

Today‘s results see Quartararo keep 10th place in the overall standings with 116 points. Morbidelli remains in 12th with 77 points. The Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Team stay 6th in the team championship with 193 points, and Yamaha is in 5th position in the constructor‘s championship with 136 points.

The team will be back in action tomorrow for Warm Up, held from 10:40 - 10:50 GMT +8, and the Race, which starts at 15:00.

Fabio Quartararo

Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP

"Of course, it‘s always nice to be towards the front, to see the first guys. Unfortunately, I couldn‘t fight, but I had to stay calm, try to give my 100%, and this is what we did today. I tried to put up a fight with Jorge Martin, but he was faster, so it was only a matter of when he would be able to get away."

Franco Morbidelli

Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP

"We messed up our weekend when we didn‘t manage to get into Q2 directly, missing out by 0.3s yesterday, and today by 0.2s. With the lap time I did in Q1, I could have started sixth if I had been in Q2, but instead I started from fifteenth. With fourteen bikes in front of you in this heat, you can‘t do much. The temperature of the tyres goes sky-high, and the bike becomes more difficult to ride."

Massimo Meregalli

Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP, Team Director

"It was a difficult day, but with some rewards. Fabio did a great job in qualifying by taking fourth place on the grid, and he immediately benefitted from it during the Sprint. He had a good start and was fighting at the front. Today, fifth was the best we could do, but we will work hard to see if we can improve our package for tomorrow to enter the fight for the podium. Franco set a good lap time in Q1. Though it actually was not that far off Fabio's qualifying time, it wasn‘t enough to get into Q2. Starting from P15 is tough; we know overtaking gets difficult in these hot conditions. Still, he engaged in some fights and today‘s data is useful as we prepare for tomorrow‘s Race."