Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP |News details:Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP to Give Final Push in Malaysian Triple-Header Wrap-Up

Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP to Give Final Push in Malaysian Triple-Header Wrap-Up

Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP's Fabio Quartararo and Álex Rins are determined to push to the limit at the Sepang International Circuit during this weekend's Grand Prix of Malaysia, Round 19 of the MotoGP World Championship.

Sepang (Malaysia), 30th October 2024

The Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Team have travelled from Buriram, Thailand, to Sepang, Malaysia for Round 19 of the MotoGP World Championship, the penultimate round on the calendar.

Despite misfortune in the Thai GP Race, Fabio Quartararo holds on to 13th place in the championship standings, and he will be on the attack again this weekend. He has raced at the Sepang circuit six times (in the Moto3 class in 2016, in Moto2 in 2017 and 2018, and in MotoGP in 2019, 2022, 2023) and never finished a full-length race outside the top 7. He came close to a podium finish in 2016, finishing fourth, and in 2018 and 2023 when he finished fifth. He had his first and only podium finish on Malaysian soil in 2022 when he secured third place despite riding with a hand injury sustained in a crash earlier that weekend.

Álex Rins is feeling eager to step aboard his M1 again to have a do-over after his Thai GP Race ended abruptly four laps before the end. He arrives at the final triple-header round holding 19th place in the rankings and fully motivated. The Spaniard is looking forward to the Malaysian GP as Sepang historically is a good track for him. He secured second place in 2013 and third in 2014 in the Moto3 class, and in the premier class he rode to second place in 2018.

The Sepang International Circuit staged its first Grand Prix in 1999 and has been on the MotoGP calendar ever since. The 5.5km track has a reputation for providing very exciting racing thanks to a mixture of slow and medium- to high-speed corners (five left and ten right) and two long straights, the longest measuring 920m. The circuit is also one of the longest tracks of the MotoGP season, and the riders have to negotiate it in extremely hot and humid conditions, making this GP extra challenging.

The Grand Prix of Malaysia is held in the GMT +8 time zone. FP1 will take place on Friday from 10:45-11:30 local track time and Practice will be held from 15:00-16:00. On Saturday, FP2 will be held from 10:10-10:40, and the qualifying sessions from 10:50-11:30, followed by the 10-lap Sprint that starts at 15:00. On Sunday, Warm Up is held from 10:40-10:50 and the 20-lap Race starts at 15:00.

Massimo Meregalli

Team Director

We are back in Malaysia. Over eight months have passed between the Sepang Test at the start of the year and this weekend's Malaysian GP, and we are interested to see the difference in the data. All season we have been working on bike improvement, and at this round we should be able to draw a clear comparison. We are on the home stretch of the season: this is already the penultimate round. The two triple-headers have been a test of endurance for the entire team, but we will give it a good final push. Last week, the results didn’t show the full story. There was good potential, so we would like to start the Malaysian GP building onto that. Sepang is also a track that both Fabio and Álex like, so we hope to get some positive results here.

Fabio Quartararo

Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Rider

We are now in Malaysia for the last East-Asian races, and it's also the last round of the triple header. Let's see what we can do here. At the beginning of the year when we were testing here, it was tough for us. But since then we have made a lot of changes. I think that the bike is totally different now, and hopefully we can get some positive results.

Álex Rins

Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Rider

We tried something different in the Thai GP Race. It was a big change between Saturday and Sunday, but because it rained on Sunday, I was only able to try this set-up in the wet. So, we will carry this setting forward to this weekend in Sepang. Hopefully, we will have some dry sessions so we can gather good data, and then we will see what we can improve.

#MalaysianGP | Michelin Race Guide