The times were very close at the Mandalika International Circuit on the Friday, so the Grand Prix of Indonesia Sprint today promised to be a hot and close battle. Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP’s Fabio Quartararo and Álex Rins finished the 13-lap dash in 12th and 15th place respectively.
Quartararo didn’t have the best of starts from P6, but with Jorge Martin suffering a small crash early on, the Yamaha rider held his original starting position at the end of the opening lap. The Frenchman chased down the riders ahead of him. On lap 6, however, he himself was overtaken by a charging Franco Morbidelli. A group of seven riders started to form, all fighting for fifth place. Quartararo tried an aggressive pass on Morbidelli, but there was contact. El Diablo lost ground because of it and found himself at the back of the group after lap 8. With two laps to go, he was overtaken by Martin, which had him finish in 12th place, 9.843s from first.
Rins had a good start from P15 and held tenth place in the opening corners before settling into twelfth at the end of the first lap. Unable to stay with the riders ahead of him, the Spaniard focused on keeping his position. Despite making his Yamaha as wide as possible, he lost three places over the course of the Sprint and held 15th over the finish line, 12.579s from first.
Today’s results see Quartararo hold 13th place in the overall standings with 73 points. Rins remains in 21st position with 15 points. Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP keep their 9th place in the team championship with 88 points, and Yamaha hold on to 4th position in the constructor’s championship with 84 points.
The team will be back in action tomorrow for Warm Up, held from 10:40 – 10:50 GMT +8, and the 27-lap Race, which starts at 15:00.
Massimo Meregalli
Team Director
We didn’t expect to have so much difficulty here during the Sprint today. Fabio did a good job in qualifying by taking sixth place on the grid, but he wasn’t able to overtake like he wanted to during the Sprint. Álex is recovering well and rode well in these taxing hot conditions. He had a good start from P15 and put up a good fight but, like Fabio, he too struggled to keep rivals at bay. So, we have work to do. We will use today’s data to prepare something else for tomorrow which will hopefully help them in what will be a very long and demanding Race.
Fabio Quartararo
Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Rider
I pushed to the maximum, and I tried to overtake Franky, but it went wrong. I was riding defensively for most of the Sprint to avoid being overtaken. I had the pace, but I couldn’t overtake. This is a point that we need to improve. Tomorrow, we’ll do our best again. Let’s see what we can achieve. We can maybe fight for a top 6, but it will highly depend on what happens on the opening laps.
Álex Rins
Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Rider
I’m not so happy with how it went today. I had more to give. It was slightly strange, because in Q1, during the first time attack, it was great. But I had more wheelspin on the second tyre, which can happen. In the Sprint race, I had a good start and I made up some positions. But then, lap by lap, I was sliding with the rear. Physically, I was doing okay though. I struggled on the first day, maybe because it was a long time since I had last ridden the bike in these hot conditions. I’m looking forward to tomorrow. For sure, it will be a tough Race. It’s so warm, so physically it will be very demanding, but we are ready.
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