Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Kicks Off 2022 Testing Program in Malaysia

Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP‘s Fabio Quartararo and Franco Morbidelli were happy to be back aboard their YZR-M1s on the first official IRTA MotoGP testing day of 2022. They worked tirelessly in the typical Sepang International Circuit heat and ended in 6th and 21st place respectively in the Day-1 timesheets.

The duo wasted no time starting their 2022 testing programme. They both headed out just after 10am local track time and didn‘t finish until the clock hit 6pm. They followed this up by ten minutes of practising starts.

Quartararo was greatly motivated to ride at the Sepang circuit again for the first time since 2020. He used this opportunity to collect valuable data. He completed 57 laps in total, securing 6th place with a 1’59.002s lap, 0.631s from first, and ended the day with positive feelings.

After spending the winter break working on leg rehabilitation, Morbidelli was reaping the rewards. Overall, he had a positive first day back at the office. He rode 61 laps over the course of eight hours of high-temperature testing and set a best time of 2’00.107s. He took 21st place, 1.736s from the top.  

#20 Fabio Quartararo: “Tomorrow I want to work a bit more on the bike. So far, I’m happy with the pace, but not with the time attack. Just before the time attack, I was doing laps on a medium tyre that had 26 laps on it. To make the step from that tyre to a new soft, I didn’t take the full benefit of the soft. But tomorrow we will have another chance to do a time attack, and in general I need to improve my riding, because after three months I was not carrying enough corner speed and that’s our bike‘s strong point.”

#21 Franco Morbidelli: “It‘s great to be back on the MotoGP bike. Malaysia is tough. The first day in Malaysia is always tricky: hot conditions. But we went through it quite well. The performance was good, really good in some parts of the day and less in some other parts. But it feels right to only bring the good things to the track tomorrow.”

credit: Monster Energy Yamaha Moto GP

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