Scorching Qualifying for WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP Team in Indonesia

19-03-2022

Scorching Qualifying for WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP Team in Indonesia

Andrea Dovizioso and Darryn Binder will launch the first Grand Prix in Mandalika from rows six and eight.

The weather played a huge role again on day two of proceedings at the Mandalika Circuit today. Rain showers in the morning meant the WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP Team riders and the rest of the MotoGP class faced another mixed session in FP3, where they all started on wet tyres, but switched to slicks around halfway through, which means they couldn’t improve on their Practice times from Friday.

Andrea Dovizioso started Saturday with a tenth position in Free Practice three and improved his lap time once again in Free Practice four this afternoon. Yet in Qualifying he was fighting for the top-2-spots but missed out on them by just 0.239 seconds. Thereby he went nearly half a second quicker than in FP2 yesterday, but will have to line up in row six on the World Championship's return to Indonesia.

On the other side of the WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP Team garage, Darryn Binder, who is still learning the premier class, likewise stepped forward throughout Saturday. After gaining more experience on wet tyres and in mixed conditions in the morning, he lowered his lap time quite significantly in the afternoon and was 0.715 seconds quicker than in FP2 yesterday. He concluded Qualifying one in P13, only 0.429 seconds behind his teammate and will start from row eight.

Tomorrows second round of the 2022 MotoGP World Championship season will definitely feature hot and humid conditions and deliver a lot of excitement. The inaugural Grand Prix of Indonesia in Mandalika is set to commence at 15:00 local time (08:00 CET) over 27 laps at the 4.3-kilometer venue.

Andrea Dovizioso

“It was a better Qualifying than in Qatar. Overall, my feeling was better. I did an ok lap time, not a special one. But we were all very close, so it’s very difficult to get to Q2. It was important to have this Qualifying in the dry today in order to learn more in this condition. In general, my pace is closer than Qatar, we made some improvements. Starting in P17 it’s not easy to deliver a good race, but everybody will have to manage the rear tyre and the heat is high for everyone and when you are further behind, it’s even worse. But in the end, we did a small step in the right direction, so let’s see what we can do in the race and especially wait if it will be dry or wet.”

Darryn Binder

“Today was quite good. I feel this morning it was interesting to ride on the wet tyres, even if the track was quite dry. At the end of the session to arrive with the slick in a little bit of mixed conditions was pretty cool. Qualifying was quite decent, I managed to improve my time quite a lot from yesterday and from the best I’ve done around here so far, so I’m really happy with that. I’m pretty close to the other guys. I feel I’m on a much better way than I was on Saturday in Qatar, so I’m only looking forward to tomorrow.”