Quartararo and Morbidelli optimistic as PETRONAS Yamaha SRT heads to Aragon
Fabio Quartararo and Franco Morbidelli look to build on strong results at Misano last weekend as they prepare for their second race in seven days
Aragon GP – 17 September 2019
PETRONAS Yamaha Sepang Racing Team riders Fabio Quartararo and Franco Morbidelli are going into this weekend’s Aragon Grand Prix full of optimism about what’s possible at MotorLand Aragon after strong results last time out. Heading directly from Italy to Spain after finishing Sunday’s San Marino Grand Prix in second and fifth, the duo are confident that they’ll be able to maintain their form this weekend.
Quartararo spent much of Sunday’s race in the lead and battling with reigning world champion Marc Marquez for the win, and says that he can use the same rapid-start strategy to try and add to his tally of four top-three finishes so far in his rookie season. Full of self-belief after the stunning performance at Misano, he’s determined to once again get stuck into the podium battle at Aragon.
Morbidelli is also excited to be heading to the Spanish circuit after an impressive fifth place at his home race on Sunday. A previous race winner in the Moto2 class and enjoying a strong MotoGP debut in 2018 at MotorLand Aragon, improvements to the base setting of his Yamaha YZR-M1 at Misano means he too is raring to get going.
The action at MotorLand Aragon gets underway at 0955 local time (1555 Malaysian time) on Friday 20th September, ahead of race day at the Gran Premio de Aragon on Sunday 22nd.
Franco Morbidelli:
“I’m feeling very good on the bike at the minute and I’ve had two great performances at Silverstone and Misano, so we’re arriving with a lot of trust in ourselves. We’re hoping that the level will be similar to how it was last weekend even though there is a long straight at Aragon, because we’ve found something with the corner speed that’s enabling us to be faster. I won there in 2017 in Moto2, I was on the podium the season before and last year I was very fast, so it’s somewhere where I already have good memories.”
Fabio Quartararo:
“Fighting with Marc at Misano means that I’m going to Aragon with a lot of confidence. It showed how good a job we did there, and only five days after getting off the bike in a really good condition I get to ride again. The long straights aren’t too much of a problem for us, because we showed at the Red Bull Ring and at Misano that as long as you make a good start and five strong laps at the beginning you can be in the fight. The first target will be to be on the front row again, because we need to ensure a good start, and then we’ll try and do our best as always.”