Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP |News details:Quartararo Pushes On in Le Mans Sprint

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Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP's Fabio Quartararo pushed to the maximum in the Michelin Grand Prix de France Sprint today. In the end found himself just outside the points in tenth position. Álex Rins tried to make up ground after a difficult start to the 13-lap dash, but an unfortunate crash on lap 7 ended his run.

Le Mans (France), 11th May 2024

The Le Mans circuit was filled with passionate MotoGP fans on the Michelin Grand Prix de France Super Saturday, producing the level of noise similar to that of a completely sold-out stadium. Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP's Fabio Quartararo was fully motivated to put his best foot forward to please the fans during his home GP weekend. He followed up an eight-place-worthy qualifying effort with some solid riding during the Sprint and finished in 10th place. Rins was pushing as well but suffered an unlucky crash, ending his Super Saturday dash early.

Quartararo started from eighth and held this position in the chaos of the first couple of corners. He was making his M1 as wide as possible to keep charging riders at bay, but eventually he had to let three of them through and was relegated to 11th. The remainder of the Sprint proved rather uneventful for the Frenchman. With four laps to go, Marco Bezzecchi crashed out, moving El Diablo into the top 10. Unable to get close enough to take a punt at snatching ninth place from Raul Fernandez directly ahead of him, Quartararo took the chequered flag in 10th place with a 12.699s gap to first, leaving him just outside the points.

Rins started the Sprint from 16th on the grid but lost two positions as the 22 riders all stormed through the first sector. The Spaniard quickly recovered a place but the scramble for 17th position continued. He was directly behind Francesco Bagnaia when the Italian ran wide on lap 3, moving the Yamaha man up to 16th. Alex Marquez and Franco Morbidelli were next on Rins' list, but on lap 7, as he put his head down, the number-42 rider suffered a crash in Turn 8, ending his Sprint efforts.

Today's results see Quartararo stay in 12th place in the overall standings with 25 points. Rins is now in 20th position with 6 points. Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP keep their 9th place in the team championship with 31 points, and Yamaha hold onto 4th position in the constructor’s championship with 27 points.

On the French GP Sunday, the teammates will start the track action with the Warm Up held from 09:40 - 09:50 (GMT +2), followed by the 27-lap Race, which starts at 14:00.

Massimo Meregalli

Team Director

It was a bit of a mixed day for our team overall. Fabio did a good job this morning to secure eighth place on the grid. However, in the Sprint he couldn't ride like he wanted to. He wasn't able to climb up the order or do much overtaking, so we need to work on this tonight and tomorrow morning. This GP means a lot to him, so we want him to have the best package possible for the Race. We are glad that Álex is okay after his crash in the Sprint. It was a bit of a day to forget for him. He will regroup and come up with a plan to get better results tomorrow. It might rain here, especially during the Race. While this would certainly mix things up and add some possible excitement for the fans, we hope it stays dry as we would like to use tomorrow's track time to collect extra data ahead of our private test in Mugello next week.

Fabio Quartararo

Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Rider

Qualifying was more positive than the Sprint. We struggled with low-grip conditions for us during the Sprint race, so let's see if tomorrow we can do a little bit more. When the grip is low in the dry, it's even lower in the wet, so if it rains tomorrow, that won't give us an advantage. The most important thing is that we give it our 100%. It's been a crazy weekend so far: we had special helmets, caps, and t-shirts that were already sold out from the first day. That's totally crazy! And of course it's great to see all the fans here.

Álex Rins

Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Rider

I'm all okay, but it was quite strange because I didn't have a moment before the crash. I would like to say that these things happen when you're pushing 100%. I had Alex Marquez in front of me, although at that moment it was Morbidelli, and I was riding in a good way. We had especially put in the hard compound tyre for the Sprint race because we didn't have the opportunity to try it before, and it was not that bad. I was feeling not bad, but I just lost the front. It's frustrating as a rider, but we stand up and keep looking forward.