Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Make The Most of Available Dry Track Time on Phillip Island Friday

Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP's Álex Rins and Fabio Quartararo needed some patience before starting their campaign on the Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix Friday at the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit. Heavy rain and swamped track conditions saw the FP1 session getting cancelled. However, the afternoon's one-hour Practice was dry, allowing the Yamaha duo to start work. They finished in 10th and 11th place respectively in the Practice classifications.

Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP's Álex Rins and Fabio Quartararo had to go all out in the Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix Practice session to set a good time in dry conditions at the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit. The teammates used the available dry track time to find pace and ended the session in 10th and 11th place in the timesheets respectively. This puts Rins on tomorrow's Q2 entry list, while Quartararo will have to take part in Q1.

Rins kept a close eye on the weather conditions throughout the 1h40m-wait for the FP1 session to start, eager to head straight out once an opportunity would present itself. But it was in vain as the session was later cancelled. With the weather conditions considerably improved in the afternoon and the track completely dry, the Spaniard got to work in the Practice. He used the dry track time to try to improve his pace and made big progress on his final run when he briefly ranked seventh. His 1'28.428s, set on lap 23/25, left him in 10th place in the Practice results, 0.658s off today's fastest time.

Unable to ride in the drenched morning session at the Phillip Island track, Quartararo was keen to start the afternoon Practice off on the right foot. In case it would rain again, he quickly set a competitive lap time that put him inside the top 10 at the time. However, after a short red-flag situation due to a goose crossing the track, the times dropped. The Frenchman used the next 45 minutes to make setting tweaks and put them to the test in the final 10 minutes. He posted a 1'28.443s on lap 24/25, which briefly had him in 10th place, but he was pushed down a position after the chequered flag had come out. He came 11th in the Practice timesheets, 0.673s from the top.

As the MotoGP riders missed out on 45 minutes of FP1 training this morning, the premier class' time schedule for tomorrow has been slightly amended. FP2 will be lengthened by 10 minutes and will be held from 10:00-10:40 GMT +11, followed by the qualifying sessions from 10:50-11:30, and the 13-lap Sprint, which starts at 15:00.