Rins Secures Q2 Spot on Catalan GP Friday in Front of Home Fans

The Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Team tried a new aero package at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya during the Friday sessions of the Gran Premi Monster Energy de Catalunya and came away with a positive feeling. Álex Rins ended today’s Practice in 9th. A crash in the afternoon session and late yellow flags prohibited Fabio Quartararo from putting in a bid for the top 10. He finished in 14th position.

Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP's Álex Rins and Fabio Quartararo had plenty of work to do at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya today. Riding with a new aero package at the Gran Premi Monster Energy de Catalunya, the teammates were keen to make a lot of kilometres. In the afternoon Practice they secured 9th and 14th place respectively, putting Rins on the Q2 entry list while Quartararo will take part in tomorrow's Q1.

With the Catalan GP being his home race, Rins was all the more eager to hit the ground running. The Barcelona-born rider tackled an issue with low rear grip in the morning, and his diligent work paid off during the Practice. With 17 minutes to go, he clocked a 1’39.616s for fifth in the live timing – a solid indication of the progress he and the team had made. But as the times dropped towards the end of session, the Spaniard was relegated to eighth, so he knew he needed to keep pushing. He put in another bid to stay inside the top 10 with four minutes left. He clawed himself up to seventh, with a 1'39.043s on lap 18/20, which was strong enough to hold him in ninth as the clock hit zero, 0.481s from first.

Quartararo got to grips with the new aero package – which he had tested at the private test in Mugello last week – early on during FP1. The morning session set him up nicely for the Practice. He was quick to set the fourth fastest time in the 1-hour-long afternoon session, but then fortunes shifted and the Frenchman suffered a crash in Turn 5. He was unharmed, but the incident did cost him valuable time. El Diablo resumed his top-10 challenge with 12 minutes on the clock and swiftly moved back up to 11th thanks to a 1'39.352s on lap 19/22 before coming in for a pit stop. He was putting everything he had into his final try, flashing a red and an orange sector at the start of the last lap, but then yellow flags came out in Sector 2, 3, and 4, making it impossible for him to improve. He wrapped up the session in 14th place, 0.790s from the top.

Tomorrow, the teammates will be back in action for FP2, held from 10:10 - 10:40 (GMT +2). The qualifying sessions will follow from 10:50 - 11:30, and the 12-lap Sprint will start at 15:00.