18 Jun, 2023
Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP’s Franco Morbidelli and Fabio Quartararo had a strong start to today’s Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland. Both riders gained positions in the early stages. Morbidelli was able to maintain a consistent pace and ended the race in 12th position. Quartararo, on the other hand, suffered tyre degradation which caused him to fall back to 13th place.
With Marc Marquez withdrawing from the German GP MotoGP Race, both Quartararo and Morbidelli moved up a position on the grid.
Morbidelli was keen to engage in battle again on the Sunday. He started from P16, defended his position, and soon moved up a spot, overtaking Takaaki Nakagami on the second lap. On lap 7, he moved past Maverick Viñales for 14th place.
Morbido lost a position to Augusto Fernandez but didn’t let it rattle him. He focused on his race pace. As Brad Binder crashed out and teammate Quartararo suffered tyre degradation, the Italian move up to 13th. In the final stages of the race, he also picked off Aleix Espargaró to hold 12th position over the finish line, 22.949s from first.
Quartararo had a solid start from P11 and gained a place in the first sector. As the rider order settled over the opening laps, the Yamaha man then took on the challenge of keeping Enea Bastianini behind him whilst at the same time keeping up with the riders ahead of him. He did so successfully until lap 9.
It went downhill from there for the Frenchman. He lost further positions due to degradation getting the better of his soft rear tyre, causing El Diablo to be relegated to 14th. But he kept pushing. Overtaking Aleix Espargaró on the final lap, Quartararo took the chequered flag in 13th place, 25.117s from the race leader.
Today’s results put Quartararo in 8th in the overall standings with 57 points. Morbidelli stays in 12th place with 50 points. The Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP team are 6th in the team championship with 107 points, and Yamaha are 5th in the constructor’s championship with 68 points.
Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP will be back in action next week, when they start Round 8, the TT Assen, held at the TT Circuit Assen in The Netherlands.
