Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP |News details:Solid Catch-Up Effort by Quartararo in COTA Race

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Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP's Fabio Quartararo bounced back from a disappointing start to the Grand Prix of The Americas MotoGP Race by riding from P20 after lap 1 to P12. Álex Rins had a strong start but couldn't defend his position. He suffered a luckless crash on lap 11 that ended his race.

Austin (Texas, USA), 14th April 2024

The 20-lap Grand Prix of The Americas was a challenging outing for the Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Team. Fabio Quartararo had to make up the ground he lost on the opening lap and recovered to P12. Álex Rins crashed on lap 11, ending his race prematurely.

Quartararo didn't have the start from P16 he had hoped for. He had wrestled his way to 14th in the opening stages, but the mid-pack is a dangerous place to be. The Frenchman went wide and fell back to 20th before the end of the first lap.

The number-20 rider had some catching up to do. By lap 8, he was in P17 and closing in on his teammate. One lap later, they swapped positions, allowing El Diablo to start the chase for a championship point. He overtook Augusto Fernandez, and as the Marquez brothers had both taken a fall, the Yamaha man was in 13th by lap 12. He put his head down for a sprint to the finish. Quartararo closed an over 3s gap to Jack Miller to snatch 12th on the final lap, finishing 22.899s from the race winner.

Rins had a superb start from P15 on the grid. He cleverly opted for the inside line in Turn 1 and emerged in seventh place after the chaos of 22 riders diving into the sharp lefthander. He held the position on the opening lap but struggled to defend it. He gradually lost ground and was relegated to 17th place by lap 9. Though having moved up to 15th due to crashed rivals, the Spaniard also fell victim to the tricky COTA track at the end of the third sector with ten laps to go. Though unhurt, it ended his challenge.

Today's results see Quartararo in 12th place in the overall standings with 19 points. Rins is now in 19th position with 3 points. Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP stay 8th in the team championship with 22 points, and Yamaha hold on to 4th position in the constructor’s championship with 19 points.

The Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Team will be back in action in two weeks' time for the Gran Premio de España, held at the Circuito de Jerez – Ángel Nieto from 26-28 April.

Massimo Meregalli

Team Director

We can't be satisfied with today's results – there is clearly work to do – but we are sparing no effort. It was a tough race weekend overall but also a productive one. We have tried new things, and this data will help us as we prepare to make changes for the future. It's a shame that Fabio fell back to 20th in the opening lap, because his tyre life was not bad. Álex on the other hand had a great start but lacked race pace due to an experimental set-up he was trying. Now that we have gained further insights, we will regroup and set our strategy for Jerez in two weeks' time.

Fabio Quartararo

Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Rider

I went straight, unfortunately, on the first lap in Turn 12. I lost a few positions but, to be honest, I expected worse. My pace was not good, but the drop of the tyre was not too bad. Maybe we could have managed a bit better position, but I think this weekend was all about trying many things, and we mainly focused on improving the bike. I started the Race with a bike I didn't try before. This weekend was great because we basically tried many, many things. I think it's great for our experience. We know what we need, and having a clear direction to work towards is something positive.

Álex Rins

Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Rider

The start was pretty good. It was quite nice. We recovered like eight positions on the first lap. But today in the Warm Up we tried like a completely different bike to understand if that is the way that we need to go. In Warm Up we only have 10 minutes for laps, and I didn't feel so much difference compared to yesterday. Maybe it even felt a little bit better releasing the brakes in the slow corners that we were struggling in yesterday. So, we decided to keep the set-up for the Race, and honestly it was a big mistake. Our bike usually is quite heavy on the direction changes. In the Race, with this set-up, it was even worse, so I was losing time there. Then I made a small mistake in corner 15. There are some bumps on the track, and maybe I went over one bump with a little bit more pressure on the front brake, and then I lost the front.