The first Super Saturday of the 2024 season was an extra busy one, with Practice, Qualifying, and the Sprint all taking place on one day. Fabio Quartararo and Álex Rins lined up for the Grand Prix of Qatar Sprint in P16 and P20 on the grid. Over the course of the 11-lap dash, the Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP teammates both got in some overtakes and made up some ground. They crossed the finish line in P12 and P17 respectively.
Starting from P16, Quartararo was keen to advance through the opening corners. He emerged in 13th place as the order settled. But an early battle with Johann Zarco lost the Yamaha man a position. He followed his compatriot past Marco Bezzecchi, and as Fabio Di Giannantonio crashed on lap 3, El Diablo was up to 12th. Quartararo had to multitask, battling Bezzecchi while preparing his move on Zarco. The number-20 rider made it stick with two laps to go and got up to 11th place. But Bezzecchi followed the Frenchman like a shadow. Quartararo did a stellar job to keep him at bay until the final sector. Pushing all the way to the finish line, Quartararo finished the Sprint in 12th position, 0.028s behind Bezzecchi and 12.863s from first.
A strong start from Rins moved him up from P20 to P17 in the first sector. He briefly fell back to 18th as the number-42 rider was engaged in battle with Raul Fernandez. After gaining a place due to Di Giannantonio's crash, the Yamaha rider overtook Joan Mir in his pursuit of Raul Fernandez. However, Mir came back to put up a fight later. Rins was unable to make further moves throughout the remainder of the Sprint but did collect useful data in a first 'race-like' outing with the Yamaha M1, which should be beneficial for tomorrow's full-length Race. He ended the Sprint in 17th place, 15.629s from the winner.
Tomorrow the Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP teammates will be back in action for Warm Up from 15:40 – 15:50 GMT +3, followed by the Race, starting at 20:00.
The first Super Saturday of the 2024 season was an extra busy one, with Practice, Qualifying, and the Sprint all taking place on one day. Fabio Quartararo and Álex Rins lined up for the Grand Prix of Qatar Sprint in P16 and P20 on the grid. Over the course of the 11-lap dash, the Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP teammates both got in some overtakes and made up some ground. They crossed the finish line in P12 and P17 respectively.
Starting from P16, Quartararo was keen to advance through the opening corners. He emerged in 13th place as the order settled. But an early battle with Johann Zarco lost the Yamaha man a position. He followed his compatriot past Marco Bezzecchi, and as Fabio Di Giannantonio crashed on lap 3, El Diablo was up to 12th. Quartararo had to multitask, battling Bezzecchi while preparing his move on Zarco. The number-20 rider made it stick with two laps to go and got up to 11th place. But Bezzecchi followed the Frenchman like a shadow. Quartararo did a stellar job to keep him at bay until the final sector. Pushing all the way to the finish line, Quartararo finished the Sprint in 12th position, 0.028s behind Bezzecchi and 12.863s from first.
A strong start from Rins moved him up from P20 to P17 in the first sector. He briefly fell back to 18th as the number-42 rider was engaged in battle with Raul Fernandez. After gaining a place due to Di Giannantonio's crash, the Yamaha rider overtook Joan Mir in his pursuit of Raul Fernandez. However, Mir came back to put up a fight later. Rins was unable to make further moves throughout the remainder of the Sprint but did collect useful data in a first 'race-like' outing with the Yamaha M1, which should be beneficial for tomorrow's full-length Race. He ended the Sprint in 17th place, 15.629s from the winner.
Tomorrow the Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP teammates will be back in action for Warm Up from 15:40 – 15:50 GMT +3, followed by the Race, starting at 20:00.