The Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Team will be tackling the Spielberg circuit once more this weekend, for Round 11 of the 2021 MotoGP World Championship.
Following a very encouraging third place in last week‘s Grand Prix of Styria, the Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Team return to the Spielberg circuit this week for the Motorrad Grand Prix von Österreich.
Fabio Quartararo graced the podium at the Styrian GP and the ’good taste‘ of it left him wanting more. The third place result made the Frenchman even more happy because it increased his lead in the championship to 40 points, though he is fully aware that the season is long.
Satisfied with his dry set-up from last weekend, El Diablo is looking to make only a few improvements to his bike for the next head-to-head. He feels that, with the race data added, he and his crew will be able to make further steps and add another Spielberg podium to his tally. His best premier class results in Austria are the two third places he obtained in 2019 and in last week‘s race.
The Spielberg circuit was constructed in 1969 and was rebuilt in 1996 to the track‘s current lay-out. It hosted two Austrian GPs in the 90s and staged its return to MotoGP Grand Prix racing after nineteen years in 2016. It has been a fixture on the MotoGP calendar since. The track has a special character, with only ten turns in total (three left and seven right) and multiple long straights, the longest measuring 626m. The circuit’s design puts the emphasis on top speed, acceleration and braking stability, offering the riders plenty of opportunities to fully open the throttle.
MASSIMO MEREGALLI
TEAM DIRECTOR
Overall, we had a pretty good race weekend last time out. Fabio‘s pace was very good in the dry and there are actually not too many things we need to work on for those conditions. But as always, we will try to optimise all the areas of improvement with the use of the data we‘ve analysed, so that we can try to be a bit faster and are ready to challenge for the podium again. The weather forecasts for this weekend are better than for the previous one, but in case of a wet session we will try to make the most of it to improve the performance.
FABIO QUARTARARO
I was so happy after the last race because we know that Spielberg is not the easiest track for us. To be on the podium was actually nice for me and the team. We know the competition is strong here, but I was riding in a perfect way. I actually learned a lot during the last race. When I was in P3, I saw that Johann was 2.5s behind me, so I was trying new things. Usually, the race is not the best time to do that, but I was riding some different lines. I think I learned something, and we have good data for the upcoming week. We know what area we need to work on, and we‘ll see. But to increase our championship lead in Austria, I never expected that before we came here. Now let‘s see what we can do this weekend.
