Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP |News details:Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Tackle Changing Track Conditions on COTA Friday

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The Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Team kicked off proceedings at the Grand Prix of The Americas event today in wet conditions in this morning's FP1 and on a drying track in the afternoon session. Fabio Quartararo and Álex Rins ended the Practice in 11th and 17th place respectively, putting them on the Q1 entry list.

Austin (Texas, USA), 28th March 2025

Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP's Fabio Quartararo and Álex Rins wrapped up the Grand Prix of The Americas Practice session in 11th and 17th place respectively, so they will take part in tomorrow's Q1.

After a wet FP1 session in the morning, which Quartararo finished in 14th place, the Yamaha man was happy to see that the COTA track was drying at the start of the afternoon Practice. As weather forecasts predict the remainder of the Americas GP to be sunny, the Frenchman was keen to work on his bike's dry set-up in the final 25 minutes of the Practice before joining the usual time attack in the final stages. A 2'04.579s on lap 17/17 put him 11th in the rankings, 1.650s from first.

Rins really likes the Circuit of The Americas. He had good grip in the wet this morning but didn't take much of a risk and wrapped up FP1 in 18th place. The Spaniard and was keen to make steps in the afternoon but took his time to adjust to the rapidly changing track conditions in the Practice, waiting for the track to fully dry. He put in a total of 16 laps and set a best time of 2'05.287s in the final minutes. It had him finish the session in 17th place, 2.358s from the top.

On Saturday, the teammates will be back in action for FP2, held from 10:10-10:40 (GMT -5). The qualifying sessions will follow from 10:50-11:30, and the 10-lap Sprint will start at 15:00.

Massimo Meregalli

Team Director, Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP

"COTA has been partially resurfaced, and it was done really well, but today we didn’t quite get to enjoy it fully. As the weather forecast predicted, the conditions were pretty tricky until the last 25 minutes of the afternoon Practice. Theoretically, from now on the riding conditions should be better for the Americas GP Saturday and Sunday. We are disappointed that we missed the Q2 with both riders, and we are aware that tomorrow it will not be easy to get into the top 2 in Q1, but for sure we will do all we can to help the riders be fast enough. We will analyse all of today's data and use it to course-correct where necessary."

Fabio Quartararo

Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Rider

"It was a strange afternoon. In the end, I didn't do very many laps and unfortunately we missed Q2 by 0.120s. I think we could have done better, but today it's like this. The goal of tomorrow is, of course, to be in Q2. It might not be easy, but I will give it my best effort. Let's see tomorrow, in fully dry conditions, if we are able to go fast."

Álex Rins

Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Rider

"It was a tricky day in terms of conditions, especially this afternoon. This morning the grip was unbelievable. I think nobody expected to have this grip in the wet. But this afternoon it was easy to make a mistake on slick tyres with the wet patches on the track. But I think we chose the right moment to change tyres. I jumped back on the bike and went out on track. I was going at my pace and going faster and faster. In the end, I couldn't get a place for Q2, so we need to keep working and keep giving our 100% on track and outside the track. Let's see if tomorrow we have the chance to ride in dry conditions in the morning and take some profit from it and understand the set-up better."