Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP |News details:Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Teammates Get Up to Speed on Indonesia GP Friday

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The Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Team began action at the Mandalika International Circuit today. Fabio Quartararo and Álex Rins worked diligently throughout the day to wrap up the Friday in 6th and 13th place respectively in the Practice timesheets.

Mandalika (Indonesia), 27th September 2024

Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP's Fabio Quartararo and Álex Rins finished a sweltering first day at the Mandalika International Circuit in a strong fashion. They ended the Practice in 6th and 13th place respectively, earning Quartararo a place in Saturday's Q2 and putting Rins on the entry list for Q1.

Quartararo had work to do after finishing 15th in FP1. The Frenchman concentrated on his bike's set-up in the afternoon Practice and put in his first bid for a direct place in Q2 early on in the session with 25 minutes left on the clock. As the times improved, so did El Diablo's, allowing him to defend his sixth place repeatedly throughout the time attack. He clocked a 1'29.844s on lap 28/29 that kept him in sixth place in the timesheets, earning him a place in Q2.

Rins had recovered from the persistent flu that kept him off track during last week's Emilia-Romagna GP. The Spaniard was keen to make both sessions count. He finished FP1 in 16th position and featured inside the top 10 throughout the afternoon Practice. Putting his head down once more in the final stages, he posted a 1'30.189s best time on lap 23/27. It saw him finish in 13th place, 0.559s off today's fastest time.

The Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Team will be back in action tomorrow for the Saturday MotoGP sessions: FP2 will be held from 10:10 – 10:40 GMT +8, followed by the qualifying sessions from 10:50 – 11:30, and the 13-lap Sprint that starts at 15:00.

Massimo Meregalli

Team Director

It was a good start to the Indonesian GP, though it's incredibly hot, which is challenging for the riders. The grip on track is good though, and we know it will continue to improve throughout the race weekend. Fabio is feeling good with the bike. He focused on getting a good lap in on soft tyres early on in the Practice, and his strategy worked well. That Q2 placement is crucial for the rest of this weekend. The team was also glad to have Álex back in good health and back in action after suffering from a severe flu last week. Despite the missed track time and still struggling to breathe in this heat, he was challenging for a top-10 placement, and his time is not far off. We will analyse today's data and do some fine-tuning for tomorrow. The times are all very close together, and Álex is still in with a shot of earning a spot in Q2 in tomorrow's Q1.

Fabio Quartararo

Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Rider

I'm super happy! We are making some good steps, and we're more than half a second faster than last year, I think, and this is really positive. Also on the pace, I felt great with the softs. Hopefully tomorrow the track conditions will be even better so we can be even faster. I think the feeling we have on the bike here is quite nice. This is a track where the times are all super, super close. But I think we can fight for a top 6 or top 7 tomorrow and Sunday.

Álex Rins

Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Rider

It felt amazing to be back on the bike, even in this heat! It's so hard being at the track and not riding. But for sure, the conditions didn't help today. It's super warm, and that makes it quite tough physically. Coming back from bronchitis makes it hard to breathe on some laps, but I can manage it in a good way, and we tried all the way to the end of the Practice to get into Q2 anyway. There are some corners where I can improve, so, for sure, we will keep working and learning.