PETRONAS Yamaha Sepang Racing Team duo Fabio Quartararo and Franco Morbidelli started their German GP weekend in fine form with positive pace and boxes ticked as the pair prepared for Sunday’s race at the Sachsenring.
Quartararo ended the day third overall despite encountering slower riders during his FP2 time attack, while Morbidelli worked through his plan of work to finish 12th.
Quartararo got his weekend in Germany off to the best possible start in the morning’s session, deposing Marc Marquez to second in the final seconds of the session, ending FP1 0.074secs ahead of his Spanish rival. Morbidelli worked on his race pace, evaluating various set-up changes before coming home in 13th.
The Frenchman’s form continued into the afternoon’s FP2 session, with Quartararo looking set to end the day even stronger until he caught slower riders on his fastest laps of the day, forcing him to settle for third place. His Italian-Brazilian team-mate continued with his work from the morning to ensure he’s in the best possible shape for Sunday’s 30-lap duel around the tight and twisty circuit.
The PETRONAS Yamaha SRT duo will have another two sessions of free practice tomorrow before the fight for pole position starts at 2.10pm local time (8.10pm Malaysian time).
FRANCO MORBIDELLI
“We’ve got decent pace with used tyres, but I wasn’t able to improve as much as we expected with new tyres, so that’s where our focus is, especially to ensure that I go straight to Q2. My ideal lap time was well inside the top ten, so I’m happy that we’ll be able to put it all together in FP3. We are looking for a little bit more race pace, but overall I’m feeling confident heading to qualifying.”
FABIO QUARTARARO
“It was a positive day for us, because we were able to try all the tyre compounds and we’re good with all of them. We didn’t really push for a lap time with the soft tyre, but we know we’re really strong with the medium and hard. My arm is feeling good. It’s a special track with so many left-hand corners, so for my physical condition, it’s one of the most favourable configurations. My flying lap was a little bit interrupted, but I’m still very happy because although it’s not one of my favourite tracks, we’re feeling strong.”
