The PETRONAS Yamaha Sepang Racing Team duo of Fabio Quartararo and Franco Morbidelli have rounded off their Czech Grand Prix weekend in perfect form by finishing Monday’s official test at the Automotodrom Brno circuit first and third.
Quartararo was able to make the most of the day’s eight hours of track activity, with new carbon front forks among a host of parts trialled by the Frenchman. Delighted by his progress and able to be not only fast but consistent, he’s set himself up perfectly for this weekend’s Austrian Grand Prix.
Team-mate Morbidelli was able to bounce back in fine form during the test as well, after getting taken out of yesterday’s race. Finishing third, the big set-up change for the Italian-Brazilian was working on adapting to a thumb-operated brake for the first time.
There’s no break for Quartararo and Morbidelli, with back to back races meaning they go directly to the next round of the 2019 MotoGP action at the Red Bull Ring, with practice getting underway on Friday 9th August for the Austrian Grand Prix.
Franco Morbidelli
PETRONAS Yamaha Sepang Racing Team
“We tried some changes with the electronics and other settings, and I think we’ve improved the package, although of course we’re going to have to wait and see how the bike reacts to them next weekend in Austria before we can be certain. I worked with a thumb brake for the first time and the initial feeling was good, but it’s going to take some time to get used to it. All in all, I’m happy and it’s always nice to finish a test in the top three.”
Fabio Quartararo
PETRONAS Yamaha Sepang Racing Team
“Today was really productive for us and we tried many things including some elements for the coming weekend in Austria. As always in testing there was some positives and some negatives, but in the end it was useful to test again. We tried the new carbon forks and the bike felt a little bit lighter with them, we tried some new tyres from Michelin and we were able to use some electronics settings that the team has wanted to test. We need to think about what we’ve tested and have some discussions about the direction that we’ll take with the new parts.”
