PETRONAS Yamaha Sepang Racing Team duo Fabio Quartararo and Franco Morbidelli got their Thailand Grand Prix weekend off to a super start, ending the opening day of practice in hot conditions at the Buriram International Circuit in first and third respectively.
Impressive not only on time attack but on his consistent lap times as well, Quartararo was delighted to end the day in P1, with his best time almost two tenths quicker than his nearest rival. Quick to adapt to the Buriram circuit despite only making his MotoGP debut today and unfazed by the hot Thai conditions, Fabio was second fastest in the morning, before bettering his time by almost eight tenths in the afternoon to set his 1min 30.404secs lap.
Morbidelli also had an excellent start to proceedings, making the most of his consistency from recent races to get the weekend off to a flying start. After setting the seventh fastest time in the morning, Franco improved by almost a second to set the third fastest time, a 1min 30.625secs.meaning he joins his team-mate on the interim front row.
The action continues at the Buriram International Circuit tomorrow under the threat of rain, with practice kicking off at 0955 local time (1055 Malaysian time) and qualifying at 1410 local time (1100 Malaysian time), ahead of the 26-lap race on Sunday.
Fabio Quartararo
PETRONAS Yamaha Sepang Racing Team
“I felt really good all day today, and we were able to do a lot of work on our pace, and we went quite fast not only on time attack but also when I was in a rhythm. We’ll need to take some time tomorrow to compare the tyres, but so far I’m really happy with my performance. We know that Marc [Marquez] will be strong, so we’ll need to keep concentrating on our pace because it’s not enough yet. We’ve got some good ideas to try though, and the team and I will work hard tonight on that.”
Franco Morbidelli
PETRONAS Yamaha Sepang Racing Team