11 Jun, 2023
Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP’s Franco Morbidelli and Fabio Quartararo rode in tandem at the Autodromo Internazionale del Mugello during the majority of today’s Gran Premio d’Italia. Starting from 14th and 15th place respectively, they finished the race in 10th and 11th place.
Morbidelli had a good start from P14 and gained two places, but then had to relinquish a spot to Johann Zarco and crossed the start-finish straight for the first time in 12th place. The Italian continued making progress early on. He picked off Enea Bastianini on lap 3 to then shadow Aleix Espargaró.
On lap 6, Marc Marquez crashed out, moving the Yamaha man inside the top 10. However, Morbidelli was not able to make moves. As Bastianini and Quartararo caught back up with him, he lost a position to the former, but he was still in tenth place after Alex Marquez crashed out. Morbido kept the pressure on Bastianini until the very end, but stayed in 10th place until the chequered flag, finishing 17.610s from first.
Quartararo started the Italian GP from P15 and, like his teammate, made up two positions in the first corners alone. He was keen to follow Morbidelli past Bastianini at the earliest opportunity. He put in brave moves but struggled to make them stick. By lap 9 Miguel Oliveira also temporarily got into the mix. As Marc Marquez had crashed out, the three riders were fighting for 11th place and five championship points, but the pace was too hot for the Portuguese pilot, who crashed out on lap 11.
It gave El Diablo a bit of extra breathing space. He had an over 1.5s margin over the closest rival behind him, so he could shift his attention once more to the riders ahead of him. The number-20 kept following Bastianini, and the pair caught up with Morbidelli. But Quartararo was not able to make strides and ended the race in 11th place, 17.861s from the front.
Today’s results put Quartararo in 8th in the overall standings with 54 points. Morbidelli climbs up to 12th place with 46 points. The Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP team are 6th in the team championship with 100 points, and Yamaha are 5th in the constructor’s championship with 64 points.
Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP will be back in action next week, when they start Round 7, the Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland, held at the Sachsenring.
