Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP’s Fabio Quartararo and Franco Morbidelli have qualified in 13th and 17th place respectively for this afternoon’s Sprint and tomorrow’s Race at the Grand Prix de France.
Le Mans (France), 13th May 2023
Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP’s Fabio Quartararo and Franco Morbidelli will start this afternoon’s Grand Prix de France Sprint and tomorrow’s Race from 13th and 17th position on the grid respectively.

Quartararo dominated Q1 early on. He posted a 1’31.366s on lap 3/8, which kept him in first place until the final two minutes of the session when the Frenchman was relegated to provisional second place. El Diablo gave it his all, but he wasn’t able to improve his time on his second run. He was pushed outside the top 2 to third position after the chequered flag came out, missing Q2 by 0.023s. He will start today’s Sprint and tomorrow’s Race from 13th place on the grid.

Morbidelli had a strong first run in Q1, briefly featuring inside the top 2. Once he was back in the pits, he held fifth position with a 1’31.933s set on lap 3. He returned to the track keen to give it some welly on his second run. He improved to a 1’31.886 on lap 6/8, but it wasn’t enough to climb up the final rankings. He finished seventh in the Q1 results, 0.618s from first, putting him in 17th place on the grid for today’s Sprint and tomorrow’s Race.
Fabio Quartararo

Fabio Quartararo

Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Rider

For sure, it was not the qualifying we were expecting to have here in Le Mans, at my home Grand Prix. We need to analyze what happened, and then we'll do our best, as always, in the Sprint this afternoon. Of course, we know that starting from so far back in the Sprint and the Race is going to be very difficult for us. But it is what it is today, and we must make the most of what we have.
Franco Morbidelli

Franco Morbidelli

Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Rider

The Free Practice this morning wasn’t so bad. We were looking for solutions that can help us. We are suffering in these conditions. Unfortunately, our problems showed up in qualifying, and we weren't able to be fast enough to enter Q2. We tried to make some setting changes to improve, but we couldn't. Starting from behind is always difficult, but we will do our best to recover positions in the Sprint and the Race.