Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP's Fabio Quartararo and Álex Rins were met with loud cheers at the Le Mans circuit today, giving them an extra boost at the start of the Michelin Grand Prix de France weekend. Quartararo was especially keen to secure a place in the top 10 to please his passionate fans. The Yamaha pair ultimately ranked 10th and 14th respectively in the Practice results, putting Quartararo on the Q2 entry list for tomorrow and Rins in Q1.
Quartararo was fully motivated to start his home GP. He used the sunny morning session and 1-hour afternoon session to prepare for some solid time-attack action at the end of the afternoon Practice. He was already featuring inside the top 10 before the time attack really got underway. But knowing the pace would quicken towards the end, the Frenchman upped his efforts a notch. He improved to a 1’30.788s, set on lap 24/26, reaching 7th place at the time. When the dust settled after the final hectic minutes, he was in 10th, 0.400s off today's fastest time.
Rins started the French GP with the objective to work on the tyres. As the Le Mans track's key areas are late braking, hard acceleration, and rear end traction, he was keen to draw a comparison between the different tyre options. He was making progress throughout the day, and in the Practice he climbed as high as 11th, with four minutes on the clock. But as the tension rose and the times dropped further and further, the yellow flags also came out. Rins' 1’31.206s, set on lap 25/28, held him in 14th position in the Practice rankings, 0.818s from first.
Tomorrow, the teammates will be back in action for FP2, held from 10:10 - 10:40 (GMT +2). The qualifying sessions will follow from 10:50 - 11:30, and the 13-lap Sprint will start at 15:00.
Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP's Fabio Quartararo and Álex Rins were met with loud cheers at the Le Mans circuit today, giving them an extra boost at the start of the Michelin Grand Prix de France weekend. Quartararo was especially keen to secure a place in the top 10 to please his passionate fans. The Yamaha pair ultimately ranked 10th and 14th respectively in the Practice results, putting Quartararo on the Q2 entry list for tomorrow and Rins in Q1.
Quartararo was fully motivated to start his home GP. He used the sunny morning session and 1-hour afternoon session to prepare for some solid time-attack action at the end of the afternoon Practice. He was already featuring inside the top 10 before the time attack really got underway. But knowing the pace would quicken towards the end, the Frenchman upped his efforts a notch. He improved to a 1’30.788s, set on lap 24/26, reaching 7th place at the time. When the dust settled after the final hectic minutes, he was in 10th, 0.400s off today's fastest time.
Rins started the French GP with the objective to work on the tyres. As the Le Mans track's key areas are late braking, hard acceleration, and rear end traction, he was keen to draw a comparison between the different tyre options. He was making progress throughout the day, and in the Practice he climbed as high as 11th, with four minutes on the clock. But as the tension rose and the times dropped further and further, the yellow flags also came out. Rins' 1’31.206s, set on lap 25/28, held him in 14th position in the Practice rankings, 0.818s from first.
Tomorrow, the teammates will be back in action for FP2, held from 10:10 - 10:40 (GMT +2). The qualifying sessions will follow from 10:50 - 11:30, and the 13-lap Sprint will start at 15:00.