Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP |News details:Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Duo Push to Points in Spanish GP Race

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Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP's Álex Rins and Fabio Quartararo aimed to score points in the Gran Premio de España Race, but they had their work cut out for them coming from P25 and P23 on the grid respectively. The duo joined forces for nearly the whole race, initially with Quartararo in the lead, and Rins taking charge with four laps to go. The Spaniard rode to 13th place, while the Frenchman took 15th position.

Jerez de la Frontera (Spain), 28th April 2024

Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP's Álex Rins and Fabio Quartararo stuck together for the majority of the Gran Premio de España Race, riding to 13th and 15th place respectively in the Spanish sunshine.

Rins kicked off the Race from P25 on the grid but was already in 19th position after only a couple of corners, where the number-42 rider found himself riding behind Quartararo. As the race progressed, more and more rivals took a fall. The duo was up to 13th and 14th place by lap 18, and this was Rins' cue to start making a move. On lap 22 he overtook his teammate to cross the finish line three laps on in 13th place, 28.452s from first.

Quartararo had aimed to duplicate his strong start from Saturday, but this time his launch from P23 didn't get him quite as far up the order. After negotiating the busy opening corners, he settled in 19th place, right in front of his teammate. El Diablo struggled to make further progress, though. He climbed as high as 13th place thanks to the misfortunes of others, but it wasn't to last. Struggling with arm pain towards the end of the race, he had to let Rins and Takaaki Nakagami past in the final stages. However, the Frenchman still finished inside the points, taking the chequered flag in 15th place, 32.015s from the winner.

Today's results see Quartararo go to 12th place in the overall standings with 25 points. Rins has climbed up to 19th position with 6 points. Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP are now 9th in the team championship with 31 points, and Yamaha hold on to 4th position in the constructor’s championship with 27 points.

The Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Team will be back in action at the Circuito de Jerez – Ángel Nieto tomorrow for a one-day IRTA Test.

Massimo Meregalli

Team Director

It was a tough weekend in Jerez. Our riders had to start from the back of the grid again today, so the race was always going to be difficult. On top of that, both Álex and Fabio were struggling with the heaviness of the bike, because in low-grip conditions they have to ride the bike more physically. At this track you have to use the throttle and the brakes a lot without any rest, so this made this race even more demanding for them. It was a big fight for them to manage the last third of the race distance. There is clearly still a lot of work to do for us, so it's great that we have a test day tomorrow and a whole race weekend's worth of data that we can put to good use. We have many new items to try, but we have to prioritise the components that are the most vital, which are aerodynamics, an updated chassis, and some electronics settings.

Álex Rins

Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Rider

Tough race… Starting from the last position, it was not easy, but we did a better start than yesterday. I recovered some positions, and then I was behind Fabio for almost all the race, until about 11 laps before the end when I lost some tenths compared to him. But then I saw he started to struggle just like me, and I was able to catch him and overtake him. I'm feeling okay. For sure, this is not the result that we want, but this race was important for us because we took a lot of information. All the time we are on track gives us data that we analyse and try to understand. For tomorrow, we have many items to try. So, let's keep going and let's keep working!

Fabio Quartararo

Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Rider

I didn't manage to get the same start as I had yesterday. We had an issue with rear grip, and then the bike became really physically tiring to ride. I had pain in my arm because I was braking too hard, and the last ten laps I was not able to brake anymore, so I had to slow down. It was a really tough race, I would say. We are missing a lot on the rear grip and turning, so hopefully in tomorrow's test we can change that. I don't expect a big, big step, but hopefully we do find an improvement to feel better on the bike and be faster.