Quartararo Battles to P7 in 2025 Season Opening Sprint in Buriram
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Copyright 2025 Yamaha Motor Racing Srl
The long wait was finally over for MotoGP fans: the Grand Prix of Thailand Sprint gave them the 2025 racing action they were craving since November last year. Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP's Fabio Quartararo showed he meant business. He gained positions on the opening lap and went on to finish the 13-lap dash in 7th place, securing his first three 2025 world championship points straight out of the gate. Álex Rins, after a good start from P19, found himself in P21 after running wide on the first lap. But he put his head down and took the chequered flag in 17th position.
Buriram (Thailand), 1st March 2025
The Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Team got a first taste of 2025 MotoGP racing action in today's Grand Prix of Thailand Sprint. Fabio Quartararo, starting from P10, rode to an encouraging 7th place. Álex Rins had a difficult opening lap, but he upped his pace in the second half of the Sprint and crossed the finish line in 17th.
Quartararo started from P10 and was up to P7 by the end of the first lap. With a pursuing Brad Binder and Pedro Acosta battling amongst themselves, the Frenchman managed to break away and chased Jack Miller ahead of him. When the Australian crashed with 7 laps to go, the Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP rider moved up to sixth. A substantial gap had formed between El Diablo and the top 5, but he didn't have much time to worry about it as Acosta had caught up with him. Quartararo put up a fight, and the pair scrapped, but ultimately the number-20 rider had to let his rival through. The Yamaha man kept a steady pace though to claim P7 and three championship points at the chequered flag, finishing 13.437s from first.
Like his teammate, Rins was making progress early on in the first lap. Commencing the Sprint from P19, he temporarily got up to P14 but then ran wide. It caused him to fall back to 21st place, but the Spaniard made up lost ground through overtakes and also through the misfortunes of two rivals. By lap 11, he had climbed back up to 17th position. Although he rapidly gained in on fellow Yamaha rider Miguel Oliveira in the final laps of the Sprint, the number-42 rider didn't come close enough to put in a move. He finished 17th, 20.140s from the frontrunner.
Today's results see Quartararo take 7th place in the overall standings with 3 points. Rins is yet to score points. Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP is in 6th place in the team championship with 3 points, and Yamaha holds 4th position in the constructor's championship with 3 points.
The Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Team will be back in action tomorrow for Warm Up, held from 10:40-10:50 GMT +7, and the 27-lap Race, which starts at 15:00.
Quartararo started from P10 and was up to P7 by the end of the first lap. With a pursuing Brad Binder and Pedro Acosta battling amongst themselves, the Frenchman managed to break away and chased Jack Miller ahead of him. When the Australian crashed with 7 laps to go, the Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP rider moved up to sixth. A substantial gap had formed between El Diablo and the top 5, but he didn't have much time to worry about it as Acosta had caught up with him. Quartararo put up a fight, and the pair scrapped, but ultimately the number-20 rider had to let his rival through. The Yamaha man kept a steady pace though to claim P7 and three championship points at the chequered flag, finishing 13.437s from first.
Like his teammate, Rins was making progress early on in the first lap. Commencing the Sprint from P19, he temporarily got up to P14 but then ran wide. It caused him to fall back to 21st place, but the Spaniard made up lost ground through overtakes and also through the misfortunes of two rivals. By lap 11, he had climbed back up to 17th position. Although he rapidly gained in on fellow Yamaha rider Miguel Oliveira in the final laps of the Sprint, the number-42 rider didn't come close enough to put in a move. He finished 17th, 20.140s from the frontrunner.
Today's results see Quartararo take 7th place in the overall standings with 3 points. Rins is yet to score points. Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP is in 6th place in the team championship with 3 points, and Yamaha holds 4th position in the constructor's championship with 3 points.
The Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Team will be back in action tomorrow for Warm Up, held from 10:40-10:50 GMT +7, and the 27-lap Race, which starts at 15:00.
Massimo Meregalli
Team Director, Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP
Fabio Quartararo
Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Rider
Today we gave it our all. Maybe we could have done one position better, but today we had some difficulties with the front tyre temperature. Let's see if we can do better tomorrow, but, for sure, the longer Race will be difficult for the tyres. I think that if we manage the tyre temperature a bit better tomorrow, we might already be able to get a bit closer.
Álex Rins
Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Rider
I'm struggling to manage the pace at the beginning of the race. It's true that in the last five laps I was quite competitive. I was riding mid-1’31s, matching the lap times of Fabio and the riders he was battling with. We have information to analyse, and we will try to change something for tomorrow.
Finally, I would like to clarify that Álex' lap times set in the Friday Practice were later cancelled due to a human error on our part. It turned out that the transponder on one of his bikes was not sealed by the FIM stewards. Though this falls under 'technical infringement', it was not done with malicious intent, it was done by mistake. The responder was changed before today's sessions, and Álex was able to continue to take part in this GP round as usual.