Sudden Rain Dampens Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGPs Misano Q2 Efforts

2022-09-14 07:15
The Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Team had to contend with a tense Gran Premio di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini Q2 session today. With the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli drying throughout the 15-minute shoot-out and fit for slicks, you couldn‘t take your eyes off the live timing for a second without top positions being switched. In the end, Fabio Quartararo took 8th place on the grid for tomorrow‘s race, and Franco Morbidelli 11th.



LOCAL TIME: 14:35 GMT+2

AIR TEMPERATURE: 24°C

TRACK TEMPERATURE: 28°C

WEATHER: CLOUDY / HUMIDITY 69%

MORE CIRCUIT INFO




8th

FABIO QUARTARARO
1'32.246 / 9 LAPS


11th

FRANCO MORBIDELLI
1'33.351 / 8 LAPS



Pictures for editorial use only. Copyright © 2022 Yamaha Motor Racing Srl



The Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Team faced some nervous minutes before today‘s Gran Premio di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini Q2. Rain falling during Q1 made the track conditions unpredictable for the 15-minute shoot-out. Throughout the session, Fabio Quartararo and Franco Morbidelli set various personal best and red sectors but ended the session in 8th and 11th place respectively.

Quartararo was out early on wet tyres but deemed the track too dry after one full lap and headed to the box. He was back out on slicks with nine minutes left on the clock.

By the time the Frenchman had put heat into the dry tyres, he found himself in ninth place. He then gradually started putting in hot laps whilst searching for the limit without going over it. However, El Diablo wasn‘t able to get up to the strong level he showed throughout the free practice sessions. His best time, a 1‘32.246s on his ninth and final attempt, was 0.347s off pole and sees him in eighth place on the grid.

Morbidelli started the Q2 session on wets in order to check out the track conditions. Judging the grip level on his out lap, he made the calculated risk to head straight back to the box and switch to slicks.

Once he started his second run, the local rider initially got up to second place with a 1‘38.084s, but the pace was quickening as the other riders also switched to slicks. Though he kept improving his times, it wasn‘t enough to allow him to make significant moves up the ranking. With his tyres starting to wear, he returned to the box. His best effort, a 1‘33.351s set on lap 7/8, puts him in 11th place, 1.452s from first.


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MASSIMO MEREGALLI
MASSIMO MEREGALLI
TEAM DIRECTOR


Let's go over the positives first: Fabio and Franky did a great job today in FP3 and FP4. They both showed good pace and speed, so we were looking forward to qualifying. The rain was predicted for 3pm, but it fell during Q1, right before the Q2 session was about to start. The riders not knowing what the track conditions were like, made Q2 quite tense. Fabio and Franky played it safe and started on wets before switching to slicks. It soon became clear that slicks were the right choice. In these difficult conditions, we chose the soft front tyre for Franco and the medium for Fabio, but in hindsight these were not the right choices. It compromised the results. For sure, we‘re not happy, but we believe we still have the speed to do a good race.



FABIO QUARTARARO
FABIO QUARTARARO


The conditions were pretty tricky in Q2, especially the curbs, we couldn't really use them. The times were all so close, and unfortunately, we couldn't do a great qualifying. Eighth was the maximum I could do in these conditions, so I'm disappointed. In the race I will have to make a great start, do a good first lap, and then play a lot in the first four corners, because that's where I think I can overtake.




FRANCO MORBIDELLI
FRANCO MORBIDELLI


We are now on an upward spiral, which is positive, and this makes me happy. I'm happy about the progress we made and how quick we were in the practices. Unfortunately, today we didn't have the qualifying we were supposed to have. We made some wrong decisions, due to the sudden change in weather. But anyway, our level is getting up there, which is the main thing.

Source: Yamaha Motor Racing

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