Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP‘s Fabio Quartararo used ’copy/paste‘, reproducing his amazing performance at the Catalan GP a fortnight ago at today‘s Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland. He was in a league of his own in the sweltering heat of the Sachsenring and rode to a perfect victory. Starting from P20, Franco Morbidelli made up seven positions and secured three championship points.
Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP‘s Fabio Quartararo was unbeatable at today‘s Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland. He showed incredible physical and mental strength in difficult conditions to take a brilliant win, his first on German soil. Racing in hot conditions at the Sachsenring is notoriously difficult, but Franco Morbidelli used his experience to make lemons into lemonade. Despite starting from P20 and the heat causing problems with tyre pressure, he finished in 13th place.
Quartararo replicated his strategy from the Catalan GP to perfection. He had a rocket launch from P2 to take the holeshot ahead of Francesco Bagnaia. The Yamaha man had a blistering pace and tried to break away, challenging the Ducati rider to keep up. On lap 4 Bagnaia crashed out in Turn 1, leaving an over 1.1s gap between number 20 and his closest pursuer. El Diablo was in the clear.
There were 26 more scorching hot laps to go at the tricky Sachsenring circuit. In theory a real challenge for the recovering Frenchman, who had caught a flue earlier in the weekend. However, he managed to maintain his unbelievable lap times. He kept his concentration and speeded towards a brilliant win, with a 4.939s advantage. It‘s his third victory and sixth podium of the season.
Morbidelli started from P20 on the grid and navigated the opening lap well to close the first lap in 17th place. With the first 5 laps causing some casualties, he moved up to 15th. He was all over the back of Andrea Dovizioso’s bike and overtook him on lap 15.
As the heat was becoming more and more unbearable, the number-21 rider passed Dovizioso, and Maverick Viñales and Pol Espargaró retired from the race due to a technical issue. The Yamaha man was up to 12th place but came under pressure from Raul Fernandez, who he had to let through on lap 24. He then focused on completing the race, holding his position and crossed the line in 13th, with a 29.014s gap to first.
These results see Quartararo extend his lead in the championship standings to 34 points, with a 172 points total, while Morbidelli remains in 19th with now 25 points. After Round 10, Yamaha stay in second place with 172 points in the Constructor championship, and Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP move up to first position with 197 points in the Team championship.
The team will be back in action next week at the TT Assen in the Netherlands, held from 24-26 June.
