Highs and lows for Morbidelli and Quartararo at Silverstone

2019-08-26 10:06
The PETRONAS Yamaha Sepang Racing Team pair of Franco Morbidelli and Fabio Quartararo had a day of highs and lows at the British Grand Prix. Morbidelli finished fifth, matching his best-ever result in the MotoGP class, whilst Quartararo unfortunately crashed out on the opening lap.

Morbidelli made a superb start off the line and gained positions right away, getting stuck into the fight for fifth place. Losing the leading group as he diced for position, impressive pace in the final laps of the race wasn’t enough for him to close down those in front. Securing the top five spot and holding onto it until the chequered flag, Morbidelli took top independent team honours in the process.

Quartararo was caught out in the opening turn when a mistake from another rider caused him to roll off the throttle, triggering his crash. Having enjoyed a strong weekend up until that point, Quartararo was left suffering from concussion after the heavy tumble, for which he was sent for further medical assessment at a medical facility in Coventry.

The next event of the 2019 MotoGP championship gets underway at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli on September 13th, with race day at the San Marino Grand Prix on Sunday September 15th. However, the team will also take to the track later this week at the Misano circuit for a two-day test on Thursday and Friday.



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Result
Franco Morbidelli
5th (+13.109)

Result
Fabio Quartararo
DNF

“This weekend at Silverstone we’ve shown strong pace and superb team-work. In MotoGP we’re very happy for Franco to match his best result so far in MotoGP and we know that even better things are to come from him. It was an unfortunate accident for Fabio, who had shown great pace all weekend. In Moto3, Ayumu and John fought well and they were both in contention for a podium which is pleasing. In Moto2, we’d like to thank Bradley for his efforts in stepping back to the category after so long away. Our focus is now on Misano.”

“It could have been a great weekend, but we’re leaving with mixed fortunes. Fabio had bad luck with the DNF, but Franco had a very good race and made great progress. Both his pace and his strategy were good, and it’s a shame that he couldn’t quite chase down Valentino [Rossi] at the end. It’s disappointing for Fabio as he could have been fighting for the win with the pace that he had, but that’s racing - these sort of things can happen.”

“It was a great race for us, especially as throughout the weekend that this sort of result didn’t seem possible at times. I made a good start, was able to move into some interesting positions, and my feeling improved as the race went on. I fought with Crutchlow for a bit but was able to get away from him, and fifth is a good result for me and my crew. It’s a good point to start the next races from, and I feel that we can use what we’ve learned this weekend to improve further.”

“[Alex] Rins had a small slide in front of me and I shut the throttle a little too much to avoid him and then highsided. It’s a pity for the result, but more importantly I hope that Andrea [Dovizioso] is OK. It was a racing incident, and just bad luck for both of us. All weekend we were fast and the worst position of the weekend was fourth in qualifying. I had the same pace as the top guys and I’m really happy with the improvements we made this weekend. The team made a big step forwards together and it’s something we can build on.”

Source: SIC Racing Team

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