The Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Team is highly anticipating Round 9 of the 2023 MotoGP World Championship. The crew and riders are keen to rise to the occasion at the first GP weekend after the summer break, especially since the Monster Energy British Grand Prix shares the team’s title sponsor.

Following a five-week summer break, the Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Team is looking forward to being back on track at this weekend’s Monster Energy British Grand Prix. Fabio Quartararo and Franco Morbidelli are just as impatient as the MotoGP fans to start the racing action again at the Monster Energy sponsored event.

Quartararo arrives in the UK holding ninth place in the championship standings. A tough first half of the season ended with the Yamaha man having to undergo foot surgery following the Dutch GP. After a full recovery, he is determined to put on a good show this weekend. The Frenchman really enjoys riding the Silverstone circuit, as testified by his 2021 premier class victory there.

Morbidelli is looking forward to stepping aboard his YZR-M1 again. After five weeks of relaxing and training, he is ready to start the second half of the 2023 season with renewed energy. He is currently 11th and on the hunt for championship points. The Italian knows the Silverstone circuit well, having secured second place in Moto2 in 2016 and third place in the same class in 2017. This experience will come in useful as the riders will face a new challenge at the Silverstone track this weekend.

This year MotoGP moves to the international paddock, which means the start-finish straight is now in a different place, although the race is run in the same clockwise direction but with Abby now being Turn 1 and Club being the last. Counting 18 corners and with a total length of 5.9 km, Silverstone is the longest track on the MotoGP calendar. It was added in 2010 but has a racing history of over sixty years. Thanks to innovations and investments, the circuit became one of the fastest tracks on the calendar and has earned high praise from the riders.

During the summer break, there was a unanimous agreement between the MotoGP class teams to change the sessions that are timed for entry into Qualifying 2, which was accepted by the Grand Prix Commission (GPC). As of the British GP, the first premier class practice session of a Grand Prix weekend will no longer be timed for qualifying/entry into Q2. The first MotoGP session will remain 45 minutes in length and will now be named Free Practice 1 (FP1). The second MotoGP session remains 60 minutes long and will now be named Practice (PR). It will be the sole practice session timed for entry into Q2. The 30-minute session on Saturday morning will now be known as Free Practice 2 (FP2).

Due to Silverstone being situated in a different time zone, the schedule for the British GP slightly differs from the usual Central European Grand Prix timetable. FP1 will take place on Friday from 10:45 – 11:30 and PR from 15:00 – 16:00 local track time (GMT+1). On Saturday FP2 will be held from 10:10 – 10:40, followed by Q1 and Q2 from 10:50 – 11:30. The Sprint in the afternoon starts at 15:00. On Sunday, Warm Up will be staged from 09:45 – 09:55, and the race is scheduled to start at 13:00 local track time.

Those who wish to get familiar with the track’s 2023 layout can do so by watching this week’s MotoGP eSport eLap.