Quartararo and Morbidelli head to Austria eager for more glory

PETRONAS Yamaha SRT looking to continue their strong start to the 2020 MotoGP season at the Red Bull Ring – Spielberg this weekend

Fresh from achieving their tenth podium at Brno, PETRONAS Yamaha Sepang Racing Team, with riders Fabio Quartararo and Franco Morbidelli, are heading to the Grand Prix von Österreich confident of obtaining more strong results. As current leaders in both the riders’ and teams’ championships, the squad travel to Austria in high spirits.

Although the CzechGP wasn’t the best for Quartararo, with increased tyre in the race wear preventing him from making the most of his front row start, the Frenchman was still about to rack up nine more championship points. Aware that it could be another tricky weekend, with extremely varied weather conditions predicted, Quartararo is keen to ensure that he is back on the podium on Sunday – especially as he finished third in Austria last year.

Team-mate Morbidelli will arrive at the Red Bull Ring – Spielberg bolstered by achieving his first ever MotoGP podium last weekend. The Italian raced with a mature head, knowing that his tyres were dropping off, to ensure that his bike crossed the line second. Despite the perception that the 4.3km circuit is not one of the strongest for the Yamaha YZR-M1, Franco is confident that he can still be at the sharp end of the grid and fight for another podium finish. He will arrive at the Austrian GP third in the championship.

The Grand Prix von Österreich will get underway for the MotoGP riders with FP1 at 9.55am local time (3.55pm MYT) on Friday. Sunday’s 28-lap race is due to start at 2pm local time (8pm MYT).

Fabio Quartararo

It wasn’t the best weekend at Brno, but we will go to Austria with nine more points in the championship. That was important to do. The Austrian track is one that I really like and I’m really looking to these next two races there. We know that KTM will be strong again as they’ve tested a lot there, which means they will have a lot of important data to use in the races. Of course, we will have to see what the conditions are when we arrive, as at the moment the weather forecast is very mixed, but I think we can be quick there and be back on the podium. We will definitely be trying to repeat, at least, the top-three finish from last year.

Franco Morbidelli

I think it has finally sunk in that I achieved my first MotoGP podium last time out! I’m really happy because it has given us a big injection of confidence going into these two races in Austria and the knowledge that we can fight at the front. On paper it doesn’t look like one of our strongest tracks, but that is just on paper! We will have to see what the conditions are like and how we feel in the first practice session on Friday. I’m really looking forward to it though and can’t wait to be back on track after these next few days.