PETRONAS Yamaha Sepang Racing Team rider Fabio Quartararo has secured yet another front-row starting position in his rookie season, qualifying second for tomorrow’s Gran Premio de Aragon. Team-mate Franco Morbidelli also had a strong day at the MotorLand Aragon circuit, ending up eighth after progressing from Q1, with both riders now targeting top-five finishes in tomorrow’s race.
Quartararo added to his tally of front-row qualifying positions to take his total up to eight at the end of the session, setting a lap in the final seconds of Q2 to jump up the grid for tomorrow’s 23-lap race. Securing a strong position in the starting order means Quartararo is confident that he can add to his tally of four podium finishes tomorrow.
Morbidelli also had a strong qualifying at Aragon despite having to progress through Q1. The #21 rider was able to top the first session to secure his passage through to Q2 and go on to set the eighth-fastest time. Still hoping to find a little more from the Yamaha YZR-M1 in tomorrow morning’s warm-up, Morbidelli is confident that he can get stuck into the battle for the top five again.
The action at MotorLand Aragon concludes tomorrow, with Sunday’s 23-lap race at the Gran Premio de Aragon getting underway at 1300 local time (1900 Malaysian time).
Fabio Quartararo
PETRONAS Yamaha Sepang Racing Team
“Honestly I didn’t expect such a good lap time, but I was on the limit at the end of qualifying! I set a good time on my first run, but I knew it was important to be on the front row for the race. We knew that it would be really difficult to take pole position from Marc [Marquez], so second was the target and the team and I did a really good job together to make it happen. Marc’s on another level here compared to everyone else, but we’ll go into the race with an open mind and try to do our best.
Franco Morbidelli
PETRONAS Yamaha Sepang Racing Team