Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP’s Fabio Quartararo had a strong start and finish to today’s Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix Race, riding from P18 to P9. Starting from P9, Álex Rins lost some positions in the early stages, but he picked up the pace to ultimately hold P13 across the finish line.
Quartararo had qualified in P19, but with Pedro Acosta ruled out for the Race, the Frenchman started from P18. He had a great start and was soon up to ninth place. He wrapped up the first lap in 10th, however, as he was unable to hold off Fabio Di Giannantonio. Marco Bezzecchi had a fall on lap 5, which moved the number-20 rider up to ninth, but it was short-lived as Raul Fernandez overtook him on the next lap. The Yamaha man tried to make his M1 as wide as possible, but on lap 13 and lap 14 also Jack Miller and Johann Zarco went through. Still, Quartararo was not taking it lying down. He rallied and caught back up with Zarco on lap 19, and successfully launched an attack on lap 20. There were seven more laps to the finish line, and El Diablo made them count. He overtook Miller five laps before the end and Raul Fernandez with 4 laps left to go. He then set some personal best laps to cement his ninth place, holding it till he passed the chequered flag 18.757s from first.
Rins started from P9 and found himself in the busy mid-pack. He completed the first lap in 12th place but was soon relegated to 13th. The Spaniard gradually upped his pace and found himself riding behind his teammate on lap 14. Together the Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP duo rode to the two riders ahead of them, who were fighting for tenth place. However, the number-42 rider was unable to put in an overtake, and the final stages of the Race became a lonely ride. He crossed the finish line in 13th position, 22.210s from the race leader.
Today’s results see Quartararo hold 13th place in the overall standings with 93 points. Rins is now in 19th position with 23 points. Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP keep their 9th place in the team championship with 116 points, and Yamaha hold on to 4th position in the constructor’s championship with 104 points.
The Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Team will travel straight to Thailand for Round 18 of the 2024 MotoGP World Championship, held at the Chang International Circuit from 25th-27th October.
Massimo Meregalli
Team Director
This was a difficult race weekend for us, but today we ended it in a better way than we started it. Though there is still plenty to work on, our riders were more competitive in today’s dry and warmer conditions. Fabio had an impressive start and end to his race, and it was good to see him fight and overtake. Álex had a similar pace to Fabio, so he too made a step in the right direction today. It was just a shame that he was missing something at the end that prohibited him from engaging in battle. We will carefully analyse today’s data as we prepare for next week’s Thailand GP.
Fabio Quartararo
Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Rider
I had a really good start, but unfortunately the first part of the Race was difficult. I had some near highsides, and I couldn’t keep up with the pace of the front guys. The second part of the Race was really good, and I can be happy because especially the last ten laps were really nice. I think there are some things we can learn from this Race.
Álex Rins
Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Rider
I’m satisfied about what we did in today’s Race. We gave it our 100%. But what I’m not 100% satisfied about is the result. It’s true that we improved the bike a little bit by changing some things. The gap was a little bit less compared to the Sprint race, but we need to keep working. We still have some problems, which the team has already identified, but now we need time to solve them.
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