PETRONAS Yamaha Sepang Racing Team’s Fabio Quartararo has taken a fabulous fourth consecutive front row start for the German Grand Prix, riding through the pain barrier to secure second place behind Marc Marquez. The impressive performance was backed up by team-mate Franco Morbidelli, taking seventh place on the grid for tomorrow’s Sachsenring clash.
Riding injured after a huge high-speed save in this morning’s FP3 left him with a partially-dislocated left shoulder, Quartararo didn’t let the injury bother him as he set his time in Q2. Trading top spot with Marquez throughout the weekend, he goes into tomorrow’s race confident that he has the pace to run with the reigning World Champion.
It was also a strong day for Morbidelli, completing his strategy in the morning’s sessions to ensure he’s in a strong position for tomorrow’s race. He then backed up his practice race pace performance with seventh on the grid, progressing directly into Q2, then securing a third-row start.
Tomorrow’s 30-lap German Grand Prix gets underway at 2pm local time (8pm Malaysian time).
Franco Morbidelli
PETRONAS Yamaha Sepang Racing Team
“It was a good day for us. We’re faster in race pace than over one lap, which gives us confidence for Sunday. I didn’t have a perfect feeling in qualifying, but I had a great feeling in FP4 so we’ll see what happens tomorrow. It’s difficult to say what kind of a race it will be as practice this morning was a bit sketchy because of the high winds, but despite that we felt strong. Marquez looks to be a little bit ahead of everyone else, but behind him it’s really open.”
Fabio Quartararo
PETRONAS Yamaha Sepang Racing Team
“I’m delighted to be on the front row again, because this morning was tough for us. I made a mistake this morning and had a big moment at 250kph, but on track my shoulder was only a little bit painful in qualifying. It’s one of the most important tracks of the year to qualify well at because it’s so narrow and tight, so I’m really pleased with the result. It’s going to be a long race tomorrow, but I’m looking forward to getting stuck in because I think we’re in a good position to fight.”
