Third for Quartararo in Tough Sachsenring Encounter

21-06-2021

Third for Quartararo in Tough Sachsenring Encounter

Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP’s Fabio Quartararo continued his fine run of form at this weekend’s Grand Prix Deutschland, converting his front row start into a third-place finish. Team-mate Maverick Viñales had a challenging weekend, finishing the 30-lap Grand Prix in 19th. Valentino Rossi brought his PETRONAS M1 Yamaha home in the points, finishing 14th with Franco Morbidelli in 18th.

The Yamaha MotoGP riders endured a difficult German Grand Prix this weekend as MotoGP returned to the Sachsenring circuit for the first time since 2019. High temperatures had made for perfect running throughout the weekend, but nobody could have predicted that spots of rain just before the start would add extra tension ahead of the 30-lap race.

Launching from his sixth-consecutive front row start, Quartararo momentarily took the lead on the run in to turn one but lost a handful of positions in the opening twists and turns of the lap, dropping the Frenchman to fourth at the end of the opening lap. Sandwiched between two Ducatis, the six-time MotoGP race-winner slipped to sixth place by the end of the fourth lap, however, the 22-year-old was saving his hard-medium tyres for a mid-race charge.

As spots of rain reappeared at the German circuit on lap nine, Quartararo muscled his way past compatriot Johann Zarco before making two identical manoeuvres at turn 12, promoting the Yamaha rider to third. It was important for ‘El Diablo’ to keep his concentration as the tyres started dropping off, which he did perfectly, eventually crossing the line in third place, 6.772 seconds behind the race winner.

Leading PETRONAS SRT rider Valentino Rossi enjoyed a more positive weekend. Qualifying 16th on the grid, Rossi aimed for a strong start but like Quartararo, lost positions in the opening corners. Using his experience while other riders crashed around him, the 42-year-old worked his way back into the points where he eventually finished in 14th place, picking up two extra points for his 2021 season.

Second Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP rider Maverick Viñales had an uphill task ahead of him as he launched from 21st on the grid. Using a medium-medium tyre combination, a moment at the start of the race cost Viñales time but he quickly regrouped and found his rhythm. Crashes for riders ahead of him promoted the Spaniard to 17th, but the number 12 rider eventually crossed the line in 19th after a late mistake dropped him to the back of the battle for 15th, finishing just behind Franco Morbidelli and 24.715 seconds behind the race-winner.

The Sachsenring podium saw Quartararo increase his lead in the championship standings to a 22-point advantage and 131 points in total. Viñales remains in sixth with 75 points. Franco Morbidelli leaves Germany in 11th place on 40 points with Valentino Rossi 19th in the standings. Yamaha is still in first place in the Constructor championship with 159 points, and the Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP team is also in first place in the Team standings with 206 points.

The Yamaha MotoGP teams now travel to Holland for round nine at the TT Circuit Assen held next weekend, from 25th - 27th June 2021.

Liqui Moly Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland Results:
1. Marc Marquez – Repsol Honda Team
2. Miguel Oliveira – Red Bull KTM Factory Racing +1.610
3. Fabio Quartararo – Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP +6.772
4. Brad Binder - Red Bull KTM Factory Racing +7.922
5. Francesco Bagnaia – Ducati Lenovo Team +8.591
6. Jack Miller - Ducati Lenovo Team +9.086
7. Aleix Espargaro – Aprilia Racing Team Gresini +9.371
8. Johann Zarco – Pramac Racing +11.439
9. Joan Mir – Team SUZUKI ECSTAR +11.625
10. Pol Espargaro - Repsol Honda Team +14.769
11. Alex Rins - Team SUZUKI ECSTAR +16.803
12. Jorge Martin – Pramac Racing +16.915
13. Takaaki Nakagami – LCR Honda IDEMITSU +19.217
14. Valentino Rossi – PETRONAS Yamaha SRT +22.300
15. Luca Marini – SKY VR46 Avintia +23.615
16. Enea Bastianini – Avintia Esponsorama +23.738
17. Iker Lecuona – Tech 3 KTM Factory Racing +23.946
18. Franco Morbidelli – PETRONAS Yamaha SRT +24.414
19. Maverick Viñales - Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP +24.715
NC. Lorenzo Savadori – Aprilia Racing Team Gresini +25 laps
NC. Danilo Petrucci - Tech 3 KTM Factory Racing +26 laps

2021 MotoGP World Championship Standings:
1. Fabio Quartararo – Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP 131 points
2. Johann Zarco – Pramac Racing 109 points
3. Jack Miller – Ducati Lenovo Team 100 points
4. Francesco Bagnaia – Ducati Lenovo Team 99 points
5. Joan Mir – Team SUZUKI ECSTAR 85 points
6. Maverick Viñales – Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP 75 points
7. Miguel Oliveira - Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 74 points
8. Brad Binder - Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 56 points
9. Aleix Espargaro – Aprilia Racing Team Gresini 53 points
10. Marc Marquez – Repsol Honda Team 41 points
11. Franco Morbidelli – PETRONAS Yamaha SRT 40 points
12. Pol Espargaro – Repsol Honda Team 35 points
13. Takaaki Nakagami – LCR Honda IDEMITSU 34 points
14. Alex Rins – Team SUZUKI ECSTAR 28 points
15. Enea Bastianini – Avintia Esponsorama 26 points
16. Alex Marquez – LCR Honda CASTROL 25 points
17. Jorge Martin – Pramac Racing 23 points
18. Danilo Petrucci - Tech 3 KTM Factory Racing 23 points
19. Valentino Rossi – PETRONAS Yamaha SRT 17 points
20. Luca Marini – SKY VR46 Avintia 14 points
21. Iker Lecuona - Tech 3 KTM Factory Racing 14 points
22. Stefan Bradl – Honda HRC 11 points

Fabio Quartararo

Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Position: 3rd

“I‘m happy with this podium. Honestly, it's like gold. We‘ve been struggling all week. We were quite clear about this in our team. This morning we saw that our pace was good, but not good enough for the victory. That's why I feel that this podium is really like gold, because I fought until the very end. I gave it my all, and I think that‘s so important for the team because we have been struggling so much. This GP was so tough for us. Now I‘m just looking forward to Assen, one of my favourite tracks. The bike will be fantastic there, so I can‘t wait for Friday because we will enjoy it a lot.”

Valentino Rossi

PETRONAS Yamaha SRT Position: 14th

“I had a good feeling this morning and Warm Up was good. I was riding well, enjoying it, and I had a good lap time right up until the end of the session. The problem is that everything in the race is more difficult. I needed a good start but I didn’t have one and so I was stuck in traffic. It was not easy. When I had clear air ahead, I was able to do some good lap times. In fact my pace was not too bad, but it was not enough. I also had to slow down in the final laps because I started to suffer with lack of rear grip. We took some points but we did expect better today.”

Franco Morbidelli

PETRONAS Yamaha SRT Position: 18th

“We already knew yesterday that starting so far behind, on such a narrow track and with a lack of speed, that it was going to be a difficult race today. We tried something with our setup to try to make the bike more stable in braking, to see if we could outbrake somebody on track in the race. Unfortunately we were reaching the corners with too much of a gap to the rider in front to be able to do this. The turning was not as good either so our speed was a little less than in FP4. I’m feeling more confident about Assen though, as it is a flowing track and I’m looking forward to it.”

Maverick Viñales

Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Position: 19th

“I don‘t really know what happened with the bike at the beginning. I had a highside going into the corner. I looked to see if the tyre was flat or not, because I didn‘t understand what happened. But then I did two or three good laps, 22-highs and 23-lows on my dashboard. After that I got stuck behind the Ducatis, and it was impossible to pass them. I didn‘t know what more I could do, and that was it, my race was over. I had a good rhythm but couldn‘t do more than this.”

Massimo Meregalli

Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP, Team Director

“We knew that this race would be tricky. Honestly, the team did all they could to prepare for a tough race that would be really hard on the tyres. We were happy with the cloud cover cooling the track, that would help us a bit with trying to conserve the tyres as much as possible, but we couldn‘t have predicted the spots of rain. Fabio did a great job not letting it distract him. He pushed 100% and got the best possible result he could achieve today. Scoring third place at the track he struggles at the most underlines just how competitive he is this season. Maverick had the difficult task to try to make up places at a circuit that‘s incredibly narrow. He lost a bit of time in the opening stages, but then started moving up the order. However, a small mistake undid all his previous work. It was a weekend to forget for him. But we know our riders both really enjoy the Assen circuit, so we can‘t wait to get the Dutch GP started on Friday.”

Razlan Razali

PETRONAS Yamaha SRT, Team Principal

“We can’t help but feel disappointed with the results this race weekend, across all three categories. However, we will take everything that we have learned from this weekend, absorb it, reflect on it and then look to come back stronger in the next round at Assen. Certainly, we have seen good pace and also improvement when we look across our squad but we will know we can all achieve better results and that is the target before we go into the summer break.”