Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP |News details:Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Teammates Show Grit in Spielberg Sprint

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Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP's Fabio Quartararo made the most of an eventful opening lap in the Grand Prix of Austria Sprint. This allowed him to slot into 12th place and to challenge for a top-10 placement before ultimately securing P11. Álex Rins made up for a difficult start to the 14-lap dash by making up ground and battling his way up to P16.

Spielberg (Austria), 16th August 2025

The teammates from Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP proved their mettle in today's Grand Prix of Austria Sprint. Fabio Quartararo and Álex Rins both started from the sixth row on the grid but managed to gain several positions. They completed the 14-lap contest in 11th and 16th place.

Quartararo benefitted from an eventful opening lap. He started from P16 on the grid but found himself in 12th position by the end of Turn 3. With 9 laps to go, he overtook Franco Morbidelli who had run wide, allowing the Frenchmen up to eleventh. Three laps later, Raul Fernandez retired from the Sprint, moving the Yamaha man up into the top 10. Chasing rivals tried to apply pressure. While Quartararo held firm for as long as he could, he had to let Jorge Martin past on lap 13. The Yamaha man then pushed on to the finish line, taking 11th place, 13.387s from first.

Rins started from P17 but lost some ground on the opening lap. He was riding in 20th position and fighting Ai Ogura ahead of him. While the number-42 rider was unable to stay with his rival in the early stages, he did overtake Miguel Oliveira. With Francesco Bagnaia and Raul Fernandez retiring from the Sprint, Rins was up to 17th place with six laps left to go. By lap 11, he had caught up with Jack Miller and Ogura and initially made light work of them to take over 15th place. But their battle continued, and the Yamaha man had to yield his spot to the Japanese rider one lap later. Rins ultimately ended the 14-lap contest in 16th place, 19.365s from the winner.

After today's results, Quartararo is still in 9th place in the overall standings with 102 points, and Rins remains in 18th position with 42 points. Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP are 6th in the team championship with 144 points, and Yamaha is in 5th position in the constructor championship with 133 points.

On the Austrian GP Sunday, the teammates will start the track action with the Warm Up held from 09:40-09:50 (GMT+2), followed by the 28-lap Race starting at 14:00.

Massimo Meregalli

Team Director, Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP

"We didn't expect qualifying to be as tough as it was today. Starting from the sixth row made things tricky for both Fabio and Álex. Fabio had a good opening lap, which gave him a better position to battle with rivals. He managed to hold off key challengers for several laps, so while 11th isn't where we aim to be, there are encouraging signs. Moreover, looking at the overall race time of today's and last year's Sprint, he closed the gap to first by approximately 5 seconds. Álex had a harder start from P17, dropping to 20th early on. He recovered a bit mid-race and, after some intense battles, crossed the line in 16th. Overall, it was a challenging Sprint for both riders. We'll regroup and give it everything in tomorrow's Race. The weather looks unpredictable with a possibility of rain around 14:00 – so anything can happen."

Fabio Quartararo

Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Rider

"I expected this weekend to be tough, but not as difficult as today turned out to be. On one lap, I can usually always do something, but even on a new tyre it felt like I was on a used one. In the Sprint I was pushing on every lap like it was qualifying. I'm hoping it won't rain tomorrow because we have no grip in the dry, so it will probably be worse in the wet. But if it does rain, we'll just have to make it work."

Álex Rins

Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Rider

"We are trying to perform at our 100%. The qualifying lap itself was not bad, it was acceptable, but we were in a lower position than we wanted. The heat and the tyre that doesn't quite suit our bike caused us to struggle in today's Sprint and during this weekend in general. I was riding different lines, trying to adapt my riding style, and overall this part is going great – I'm adapting."