Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP |News details:Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Search for Grip on Aragon Friday

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Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP's Álex Rins and Fabio Quartararo got in their first laps of the weekend around the MotorLand Aragón track in today's Grand Prix of Aragon Friday sessions. They ended the Practice in 15th and 18th place respectively, putting them on the Q1 entry list.

Alcañiz (Spain), 6th June 2025

Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP's Álex Rins and Fabio Quartararo kicked off the Grand Prix of Aragon race weekend with two full-on Friday practice sessions. They diligently went to work but struggled to find the grip needed to put in hot laps. They took 15th and 18th place respectively in the afternoon Practice results.

Rins, who was riding with a special helmet designed by local school pupils, was shining in the morning. He had a good start to the race weekend, taking P4 in the FP1, but a lack of grip in the Practice proved difficult. He showed progress throughout the one-hour session but ultimately couldn't challenge for a place in Q2. His best time of the afternoon, a 1'47.509s, clocked on lap 19/21, put him in 15th place in the Practice timesheets, with a 1.112s margin to the top.

Quartararo wrapped up this morning's FP1 in 11th place and was keen to challenge for a top-10 spot in the afternoon. The Frenchman put in various time attacks but was unable to push the way he wanted to. His 1'47.842s best effort, set on lap 18/22, had him finish in 18th place in the Friday timesheets, with a 1.445s gap to first.

The teammates will be back in action for FP2, held tomorrow from 10:10-10:40 (GMT+2). The qualifying sessions will follow from 10:50-11:30, and the 11-lap Sprint will start at 15:00.

Massimo Meregalli

Team Director, Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP

"We wanted to use this GP to confirm the progress we have experienced at the previous rounds. This is a good benchmark circuit, exactly because this isn't usually an easy track for us. The grip here has never been good. Considering this lack of grip, the rider feedback was not too bad after FP1, but the situation got worse during the afternoon Practice. We need to understand why this is the case. We will analyse the data and try to come up with a solution to help our riders for qualifying and the Sprint. Our focus is on improving rear grip and long-distance race pace."

Álex Rins

Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Rider

"Mixed feelings today. In FP1, we were riding quite fast, and I finished in P4. We knew before arriving at MotorLand that we were going to struggle a bit, but this morning, despite the lack of grip, we did quite well. But then, in the Practice, we struggled on the soft tyre, and we couldn't do a time attack in a good way. We gave it our maximum, so now it's up to the engineers to check why and to understand if tomorrow we can make another step, because with this lack of grip we really struggle.

"I gave some local schools the opportunity to design my helmet for this GP. It was quite hard to decide on the winner because they all did a great job. The idea was that they would use recycled carton and draw the design on it. Finally, I chose this helmet. All the helmets were super nice, but this one especially with the blue and the stars – I really like it a lot. I saw some pictures, and it looks nice on the bike too, so maybe I should keep it for the rest of the season."

Fabio Quartararo

Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Rider

"I didn't expect it to be this tough, especially on the soft tyre. I was expecting a massive improvement on the soft, but it felt worse. At some tracks – not many, just some – when there's some rubber on track, we have this issue. We will have a look and try to understand why. We will give it our maximum to do better tomorrow. I will try to ride more smoothly. At the previous GPs, I could push the bike to an extreme limit and feel great. Today pushing to the extreme limit was not the right choice."