Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP |News details:Quartararo Puts in Brave Ride to 7th Place in San Marino Race

Pictures for editorial use only
Copyright 2024 Yamaha Motor Racing Srl

Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP's Fabio Quartararo negotiated the mixed conditions in the 27-lap Gran Premio di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini MotoGP Race with great skills, earning 7th place. Álex Rins took a gamble, opting for a bike swap when rain started to fall seven laps into the Race. But when the shower abruptly stopped shortly after, he needed to make a second pit stop and finished in 19th position.

Misano Adriatico (Italy), 8th September 2024

The Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP teammates had to make their way around the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli in mixed conditions today during a the 27-lap flag-to-flag race. The duo went for different strategies when rain started to fall at the Gran Premio di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini: Fabio Quartararo opted to stay out on slicks, whilst Álex Rins decided to try a bike swap. They finished in 7th and 19th place respectively.

Dark clouds and spots of rain added extra tension on the starting grid, as they turned today's event into a flag-to-flag race (with bike swaps allowed), causing some chaos.

Quartararo had a good start from P10, but there was a lot of contact between riders on the opening lap. The Yamaha man ultimately settled into 11th place after a scrap with Álex Marquez. With 23 laps to go, Pedro Acosta crashed, moving the Frenchman up to tenth, but a gap was starting to form between him and the riders ahead. On lap 7, rain was coming down more heavily. It caught out Franco Morbidelli, who crashed out. Jorge Martin was the only front rider to go into the pits to swap bikes. Quartararo was then in eighth and, feeling brave, quickly gained on the leading group. After an unsuccessful attempt at overtaking Marco Bezzecchi, El Diablo bided his time until, with two laps to go, he put in an overtake on Jack Miller and made it stick. It earned him seventh place, 17.642s from first.

Rins commenced the Race from P20 and was lying in 21st after negotiating the tricky opening lap. With rain starting to fall seven laps into the race, the number-42 rider considered his options and decided he had nothing to lose and everything to gain. He came into the pits to do a bike swap. The gamble didn't pay off, however. When the rain suddenly stopped, leaving the track conditions more dry than wet, he had to come in a second time to switch back to his first bike. After the ordeal, he was back in 20th place. The Spaniard started pushing once more. With Aleix Espargaró retiring from the Race on lap 15, Rins rode to a 19th-place finish.

Today's results see Quartararo remain in 14th place in the overall standings with 61 points. Rins stays in 20th position with 15 points. Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP keep their 9th place in the team championship with 76 points, and Yamaha hold on to 4th position in the constructor's championship with 72 points.

MotoGP will be back in action at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli tomorrow for a one-day official IRTA test. Moreover, in two weeks' time the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix will be held at the same venue.

Massimo Meregalli

Team Director

It's been a while since we had a flag-to-flag race. These are always tricky. The team tries to inform the riders, providing them with as much info as possible and the latest weather predictions, but in the end it's the riders' call if they want to switch bikes or not. Fabio made the right decision staying out, and he rode very well. When the rain was a bit heavier, he was catching up with the front group and that allowed him to fight for seventh place. Álex was riding in 19th place when the rain started coming down harder, so he had little to lose. These things can go one of two ways: if it had kept raining, he would have profited from it, but since it suddenly stopped raining, it turned out it was the wrong call. That's racing. Tomorrow we will be back at the Misano track for the official IRTA test. We're hoping for dry weather so we can collect some good data, both with an eye on the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix and bike development in general.

Fabio Quartararo

Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Rider

It was really hard, especially the first few laps when it was starting to rain. Usually, rain doesn't work to our advantage, but I could stay quite close to the top guys, so it was good. I enjoyed the Race. I didn't have the feeling I expected, but the position is good. I had the other riders in front of me, so whatever they did, I was following. At one moment, I was really close to going into the pits for a bike swap, but I saw that the majority of them kept going, so I decided to stay out. Luckily, the track dries superfast here, so I think it was great.

Álex Rins

Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Rider

Today's Race was a little bit difficult to manage because I decided to go to the box to change bikes, going to wet tyres. It was already raining for two laps. But as soon as we went out on track again, the rain stopped. So, after two laps of riding with the wet tyres, I was forced to go back into the pits and go back to the dry bike. After that, I had a better pace than the others, but it was hard to overtake. Tomorrow is an important day for the future, because we are going to test some new items. Let's see if we can do a good test, so maybe we also have some new items for the Misano #2 race weekend.