Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Brave Blistering Heat in Buriram Race

The 26-lap Grand Prix of Thailand MotoGP Race was a tough outing for Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP due to the heat at the Chang International Circuit. After a less-than-ideal opening lap, Fabio Quartararo made the most of things and went on the take P15. Álex Rins, on the other hand, was riding within the points for most of the Race, but he ultimately found himself in P17 at the chequered flag.

Quartararo commenced the Race from P10 but soon found that he didn’t have the feeling with his M1 that he was looking for. He gradually dropped down the order, eventually settling into 18th place. The 26 laps would be a test of perseverance for the Frenchman. With other riders also struggling in the second half of the blistering hot Buriram GP contest, El Diablo climbed up the order. He took the chequered flag in 15th place, 26.456s from the winner.

Rins started from P19 and, after some busy first five laps, rose as high as 14th place in the live timing before being relegated to 15th after completing about a third of the race distance. Though Enea Bastianini also overtook him on lap 15, a crash by Joan Mir on that same lap had the Yamaha man stay put in 15th place. The Spaniard was aiming for his first championship points, but the bike started to heat up, adding an extra challenge for the number-42 rider. He dropped to 17th place and held the position across the finish line, 31.095s from first.

The results see Quartararo take 13th place in the overall standings with 4 points. Rins is yet to score points. Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP is in 11th place in the team championship with 4 points, and Yamaha holds 5th position in the constructor championship with 4 points.

Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP will be back in action in two weeks’ time for the Gran Premio de la República Argentina which will be held at the Termas de Río Hondo circuit from 14-16 March.

Massimo Meregalli (Team Director, Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP): “Overall, it was a very difficult weekend for our team. Looking at the results, the tyre choice that we made was probably not the right one. But in the last few days, the feeling was always that we couldn’t do better with the other tyre options. We need to deeply analyse the data to understand what blocked Fabio from riding the way he usually does. Álex completely finished the rear tyre, and on top of that his bike was so hot that it burned his left leg. This data will be important stepping stones as we prepare for the Argentina GP in two weeks’ time.”

#20 Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Rider: “From the beginning of the Race, we had an issue with grip. I was struggling quite a lot. At first I thought that I just had to warm up the tyre more. I couldn’t push on the first lap, the bike was sliding, and I lost a lot of positions. Unfortunately, also later on I was not able to have a good pace and make a great race. It was really hot riding in the back of the pack and, all in all, it was quite a difficult one. Let’s see what we can do in Argentina.”

#42 Álex Rins (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Rider): “For sure, it was a physical race in terms of having to handle this heat. Already in yesterday’s Sprint I could feel it a bit, but today, after lap 7, I couldn’t handle it. My leg got burned. Anyway, looking at our level of performance and cornering, we did make a small step forward. But I was also giving it my 100% every lap, and with four laps to go, I lost the front in Turn 4, and after that it was a mess trying to manage it all. For sure, this is not the result we wanted. We will take all the information and try to improve.”

source: Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP

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