Sachsenring Sprint Ends in 13th and 15th for Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP

17-06-2023

Sachsenring Sprint Ends in 13th and 15th for Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP

Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP‘s Fabio Quartararo and Franco Morbidelli spent the majority of today‘s Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland Sprint racing together. The duo rode to 13th and 15th place across the finish line.

Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP‘s Fabio Quartararo was pushed wide in the first corner of the Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland Sprint, causing him to lose ground, but the number-20 rider is persistent and finished in P13. Franco Morbidelli‘s good start led to him following his teammate for most of the 15-lap dash. He found himself in 15th place at the chequered flag.

Quartararo started from P12 but was pushed wide in the first corner. The incident caused him to lose positions and end the first lap in 15th place. On the next lap, he overtook teammate Morbidelli but lost a spot to Augusto Fernandez. He retaliated on lap 4, keen to get a move on.

The gap to the group of riders ahead of him was over a second, but El Diablo was on the case. Bringing his teammate with him, he gradually approached the battle for eighth place. By lap 12, Maverick Viñales crashed out, moving the Yamaha rider up to 13th as he lined up behind Fabio Di Giannantonio. There were a little over three laps to go, but Quartararo couldn‘t find a way through at the narrow Sachsenring. He finished in 13th place, 11.366s from first.

Morbidelli had a good start from P17 and made up three positions on his opening lap. However, he then got into a battle with Augusto Fernandez and Quartararo and was relegated to sixteenth. The Italian followed his teammate past the KTM rider on lap 5, and together they carried on their challenge.

The number-21 rider was trying to stay with Quartararo, but towards the end of the Sprint a gap started to form between the two and soon Morbido had to focus on Augusto Fernandez, who had a second wind. Unable to defend his position, Morbidelli ended the Sprint in 16th place, 12.905s from P1.

Today‘s results put Quartararo in 9th in the overall standings with 54 points, while Morbidelli stays in 12th place with 46 points. The Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP team remain 6th in the team championship with 100 points, and Yamaha are 5th in the constructor‘s championship with 64 points.

The Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP teammates will be back in action tomorrow for Warm Up at 09:45 local track time (GMT +2) and the Race at 14:00.

Fabio Quartararo

Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP

"At the start, Aleix went a bit sideways, and then Enea came toward me, so I had to go to 0%. From the start it was already tough, and my pace was not so great. I could catch the group in front of me, consisting of a few riders, but I couldn‘t do anything."

Franco Morbidelli

Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP

"The Sprint was OK. I had a good start, and I could fight for the ’Yamaha Cup‘ with Fabio. He was able to overtake me and arrive in front of me, but anyway it's good to be engaged in some fights and racing. It‘s a way to improve and to stay motivated."

Massimo Meregalli

Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP, Team Director

"The mixed weather conditions during the qualifying caused us to start further down the grid than we hoped. Because of this, the Sprint became more difficult here. To make matters worse, Fabio had to sit up in the first corner to avoid a collision. This probably cost him the chance to get involved in the battle of the group ahead of him. Franky also didn‘t have an easy race. He had the same pace as Fabio and rode with him for most of the 15 laps, but we can‘t be satisfied. Overall, this Sprint didn‘t bring us anything positive. We will keep investigating all the data to see if we can tweak the race set-ups for tomorrow."