The Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP riders booked progress on the Solidarity Grand Prix of Barcelona Saturday, finding some performance improvement. However, fierce battles during the Sprint had Fabio Quartararo and Álex Rins finish the 12-lap dash in 10th and 16th place respectively.
Quartararo started from P10 and cruised through the busy mid-pack after the start. He wrapped up the first lap in sixth place but was overtaken by Marc Marquez, Aleix Espargaró, and Marco Bezzecchi consecutively over the first four laps. El Diablo was able to stick with the latter, though, and together they chased the group of six riders fighting for second place. Once they latched onto the back of the group with four laps to go, Quartararo struck. He reclaimed eighth from Bezecchi, but they swapped positions again on the start-finish straight. Their battle afforded Brad Binder an opportunity to meddle and eventually take ninth on the last lap. Quartararo gave it his all to retaliate, but ultimately had to be content with 10th place, 5.937s from first.
Rins lined up in P15 on the grid, but didn’t have the best opening lap. He initially fell back to last place as he had to take evasive action to avoid crashing into Pedro Acosta’s fairing, which had come off. He managed to make up five positions within two laps, putting him in 17th. Next up was Jack Miller, who he made light work of on lap 4 to then hunt down Luca Marini. The Yamaha-man took 15th place from him at the start of lap 8, which initiated a duel between the two. The number-42 rider remained threatening until he lost ground on the final two laps. He finished in 16th place, 13.217s from the winner.
Today’s results see Quartararo keep 13th place in the overall standings with 108 points. Rins remains in joint-18th position with 31 points. Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP stay in 8th place in the team championship with 139 points, and Yamaha hold on to 4th position in the constructor’s championship with 119 points.
The team will be back in action tomorrow for Warm Up, held from 09:40-09:50 GMT +1, and the 24-lap Race, the 2024 season finale, which starts at 14:00.
Massimo Meregalli
Team Director
We’re not where we want to be yet, but we did make some progress today. Fabio did a great job in qualifying. The level in Q1 was high, but he managed to secure a spot in the top 2 and promote to Q2. It led to him taking tenth on the grid – something we wouldn’t have expected yesterday. In the Sprint, Fabio had a good opening lap, and he was taking on rivals. He had the edge in the twisty sections but lost out on the main straight, which ultimately had him finish in tenth place. But he was within 0.7s of the rider finishing sixth, so that’s positive. Álex lost some ground in the first sector of the opening lap due to Pedro Acosta’s fairing coming off, which put Álex on the back foot. He did manage to make up positions and duel with other riders throughout this short race, and we can use today’s data to prepare for tomorrow. We have only one Race to go. It’s the season finale, and we have nothing to lose!
Fabio Quartararo
Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Rider
We had the pace to be faster, but we were clearly blocked. I think that our potential was quite good, but we were missing in some areas, so we couldn’t fight with our rivals, though we were close. The overtake I did on Bezzecchi, for example, was not a typical overtake. I took a lot of risk, so it’s not a pure overtake. We are working on speed and grip for tomorrow because this track is really demanding when it comes to these two aspects.
Álex Rins
Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Rider
It was a tough Sprint. I got involved with Acosta’s fairing and then I went back to last position. So, considering I was starting from all the way back, my Sprint race was not bad: I recovered six positions. I felt quite strong, but when I tried to overtake Marini, my tyres were done. I was in front of him for one lap, but then I went straight in Turn 1, locking the front. I couldn’t do more. Overall, we are struggling, but I’m finding the way. I’m still able to ride low 1’40s and high 1’39s. So, with some luck on the first lap and a good start, I can do a good result.
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