Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP’s Fabio Quartararo delivered a fighting performance this weekend as he battled to second place at the Austrian Grand Prix as the MotoGP paddock returned to the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg.
Fabio Quartararo returned to the podium this weekend as he put in an attacking performance from the start at the 28-lap Austrian Grand Prix. The Frenchman claimed second place aboard his Yamaha M1. Team-mate Franco Morbidelli put in a strong race, but it was ultimately cut short after a crash at turn two with three laps remaining. WithU Yamaha’s Andrea Dovizioso finished in 15th whilst Darryn Binder crashed out at the halfway stage.
MotoGP returned to the Red Bull Ring this weekend as round 13 of the MotoGP World Championship commenced in the Styrian mountains. A new chicane to learn, and variable weather conditions presented a fresh challenge.
Qualifying fifth on Saturday, Quartararo didn’t make the start he had hoped for, holding position in the opening corners before eventually slipping to sixth at the end of the opening lap. Demonstrating strong pace across the weekend, the Frenchman kept his cool as he looked to get the most from his hard and medium tyre combination. Re-claiming fifth when Maverick Viñales ran wide, the 23-year-old pushed on, catching the leading Ducatis.
A problem for Enea Bastianini saw Quartararo promoted to fourth before making a sensational pair of passes, first on Jorge Martin and then Jack Miller at the new turn 2a and 2b chicane to claim second with five laps to go. Despite giving his all, the gap to Francesco Bagnaia was ultimately too large, leaving the world champion to claim second, just four-tenths adrift of the victor.
WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP Team’s Andrea Dovizioso enjoyed a stronger race aboard his M1. The Italian, competing in his penultimate Grand Prix before retiring at his home race in Misano, battled hard to secure one point for 15th place.
Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP’s Franco Morbidelli enjoyed a positive race before an unfortunate crash ended his race early. A strong race pace from the Italian saw him running inside the points and catching the trio ahead, but a mistake whilst passing Miguel Oliveira left the 27-year-old wanting more. Sadly, a crash at turn 2 ended his race with four laps to go.
After a strong start, team-mate Darryn Binder suffered a crash a turn nine at the mid-way stage of the race.
Securing 20 points, Quartararo sees his advantage at the top increase to 28 points while Morbidelli stays in 19th with 26 points. Andrea Dovizioso and Darryn Binder lie in 21st and 22nd places respectively. After Round 13, Yamaha remains second with 200 points in the Constructor championship, and Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP keep third in the Team championship with 226 points.
The Yamaha MotoGP teams will be back in action on 2-4 September for Round 14 of the 2022 MotoGP World Championship, held at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli.
Fabio Quartararo – Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP, 1st
“It‘s a shame that I didn‘t do a good first lap. But, anyway, I feel that we got the best result possible for us today. We were missing a little bit for the win, but I‘m super happy about my race. I feel like we fought off our main competitors all weekend, and especially in the race I fought like a lion. I was on 100% risk today over 28 laps. But I was super focused. I made a few mistakes and lost the front so many times, but my reaction time and concentration were really good today. I feel proud of myself! And even with Pecco finishing in front of us, this has given me a boost of energy for the next races.”
Andrea Dovizioso – WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP Team, 15th
“As always, at the beginning of the race, I’m not able to gain position and always losing positions. On the start it was good but in the corners, when you are that behind it’s a gamble and I lose a lot of positions. After 5 laps, I went out of the track in turn 1 and lost even more so my race changed, and I had to start to recover. My pace in the middle of the race was exactly the same as during practise. But, when you are that behind, it’s hard to gain anything. In the end, we took one point and this is a positive.”
Franco Morbidelli, Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP, DNF
“It was an unfortunate crash. I was catching up, I was feeling good. I was aiming to arrive at the two rivals ahead of me and Miguel. We caught up with them during the race. My pace was really decent. But unfortunately, when I overtook Miguel, I went outside the track in Turn 6, and then I made Turn 7 with a really wide line. When I arrived at the next left corner, my tyre was probably a bit dirty or something, because as soon as I turned the bike left, the front just washed out from under me. It’s a pity, but we made positive progress this weekend – definitely. I was able to extract better potential from the bike and be faster generally. That’s positive. We got to keep going like that. We’ll see in Misano if we can replicate that good feeling or maybe make it even a bit better.”
Darryn Binder – WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP Team, DNF
“So, Austria weekend is done and dusted but it was a bittersweet ending to what could have been a good weekend. Unfortunately, I crashed out just before halfway of the race. I had an amazing start and I really felt like I had quite a good pace. I was running amongst the points and feeling good. Unfortunately, in the place that i least expected it, I lost the front in corner 9 in lap 13. I’m really disappointed to end the weekend like this as it has been such a good weekend and I was getting stronger in each session, I felt really good in the race today and it’s a pity to end like this. Anyway, we take the positive and move on to Misano and try again.”
Massimo Meregalli – Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP, Team Director
“Fabio‘s race was incredible! It is well deserved because his riding is just on another level than anybody else‘s in this championship at the moment. He is making the most of our package and putting in overtaking maneuvers that others hadn‘t even considered but suit our strengths, like the one in the chicane when he took second place. He rode fast, consistent, and smart. It‘s a shame that we came just a bit short here, because in our biased opinion, Fabio was the strongest rider on track today. But anyway, leaving this track with an increased championship lead is like a victory to us. Franky‘s race can be looked at in two ways. Of course, we are disappointed for him to not be able to score some points after a decent race from P16. But on the other hand, we rather see a rider push hard and make an occasional mistake than finish every race without pushing. Today, he had solid pace and was able to overtake, so we will take that as a positive with us to Misano in two weeks‘ time.”
Razlan Razali – WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP, Founder and Team Principal
“Well, it seems like forever since we last took home a point, and we managed to score a championship point this weekend with Andrea and we’re happy with that. For Darryn Binder, he had a fantastic start, he was in a good position but unfortunately he crashed out. Until that crash, we had a very good weekend. But at least we earned a point and we look forward to Misano for Andrea’s final race and for Darryn to continue his progress.”
2022 Austrian Grand Prix Results
- Francesco Bagnaia – Ducati Lenovo Team
- Fabio Quartararo – Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP +0.492
- Jack Miller – Ducati Lenovo Team +2.163
- Luca Marini – Mooney VR46 Racing Team +8.348
- Johann Zarco – Prima Pramac Racing +8.821
- Aleix Espargaro – Aprilia Racing +11.287
- Brad Binder – Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 11.642
- Alex Rins – Team SUZUKI ECSTAR +11.780
- Marco Bezzecchi – Mooney VR46 Racing Team +16.987
- Jorge Martin – Prima Pramac Racing +17.144
- Fabio Di Giannantonio – Gresini Racing MotoGP +17.471
- Miguel Oliveira – Red Bull KTM Factory Racing +18.035
- Maverick Viñales – Aprilia Racing +20.012
- Alex Marquez – LCR Honda CASTROL +26.880
- Andrea Dovizioso – WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP Team +29.744
- Pol Espargaro – Repsol Honda Team +30.994
- Stefan Bradl – Repsol Honda Team +37.960
- Raul Fernandez – Tech3 KTM Factory Racing +42.082
- Lorenzo Savadori – Aprilia Racing Test Team +46.666
- Remy Gardner – Tech3 KTM Factory Racing +1 lap
- Franco Morbidelli – Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP +3 laps
- Darryn Binder – WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP Team +16 laps
- Takaaki Nakagami – LCR Honda IDEMITSU +19 laps
- Enea Bastianini – Gresini Racing MotoGP +22 laps
- Joan Mir – Team SUZUKI ECSTAR +28 laps
MotoGP World Championship Standings
- Fabio Quartararo – Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP 200 points
- Aleix Espargaro – Aprilia Racing 168 points
- Francesco Bagnaia – Ducati Lenovo Team 156 points
- Johann Zarco – Prima Pramac Racing 125 points
- Jack Miller – Ducati Lenovo Team 123 points
- Enea Bastianini – Gresini Racing MotoGP 118 points
- Brad Binder – Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 107 points
- Alex Rins – Team SUZUKI ECSTAR 92 points
- Jorge Martin – Prima Pramac Racing 87 points
- Miguel Oliveira – Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 85 points
- Maverick Viñales – Aprilia Racing 85 points
- Joan Mir – Team SUZUKI ECSTAR 77 points
- Luca Marini – Mooney VR46 Racing Team 69 points
- Marco Bezzecchi – Mooney VR46 Racing Team 68 points
- Marc Marquez – Repsol Honda Team 60 points
- Takaaki Nakagami – LCR Honda IDEMITSU 45 points
- Pol Espargaro – Repsol Honda Team 42 points
- Alex Marquez – LCR Honda CASTROL 29 points
- Franco Morbidelli – Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP 26 points
- Fabio Di Giannantonio – Gresini Racing MotoGP 23 points
- Andrea Dovizioso – WithU RNF MotoGP Team 11 points
- Darryn Binder – WithU RNF MotoGP Team 10 points
- Remy Gardner – Tech3 KTM Factory Racing 9 points
- Raul Fernandez – Tech3 KTM Factory Racing 5 points
- Stefan Bradl – Repsol Honda Team 0 points
- Michele Pirro – Aruba.it Racing 0 points
27. Lorenzo Savadori – Aprilia Racing 0 points
