Quartararo Set for Q2 After Solid Sachsenring Friday

2023-07-24 12:48
Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP‘s Fabio Quartararo achieved his objective on the Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland Friday. He secured 6th place in the combined results and a place in tomorrow‘s Q2. Franco Morbidelli ended the Friday in 17th place in the combined rankings and will take part in tomorrow‘s Q1.

Quartararo made steady progress in the early stages of the morning session, but the action was short lived. Rain soon spoiled the progress in the P1 session. At the time the Yamaha man was seventh in the timesheets. He headed back out with over 10 minutes remaining, keen to defend his place in the top 10. The Frenchman improved to a 1‘21.054s on lap 14 and continued to push, but a crash in Turn 1 three laps later ended his time attack. His fastest time still earned him sixth place, 0.352s from first.

The positive P1 result gave El Diablo a confidence boost for the afternoon session. Once he had assessed the track conditions at the start of the one-hour long P2 by observing his rivals, he got to work. He tweaked his bike‘s set-up so he could put in his bid for a place in the provisional top 10. He bettered his time to a 1‘20.623s on lap 22/26 which earned him sixth place, 0.352s from the top.

Morbidelli had hoped to make full use of the 45 minutes of the morning session, but the spots of rain cut down his track time significantly. When he headed back out on track keen to get some hot laps in, a crash in Turn 11 in the final minutes ended his challenge early. His best time, a 1‘22.076s on lap 6/15, put him in 18th position in the morning timesheets, 1.374s off the fastest time.

The number-21 rider used the afternoon to shave off time. The track conditions were getting better throughout P2 as the sun came out, but various yellow and red flags, especially in the latter stages, made it difficult to produce a hot lap. The Italian still put in his best effort and found a significant time improvement. He clocked a 1‘21.122s on lap 24/25, which left him 0.851s off the best time. It put him in 16th place in the P2 timesheets and in 17th place in the combined rankings.

Source: Yamaha Motor Racing

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