Yamaha ‘further behind than we hoped’ as Quartararo, Rins struggle

Fabio Quartararo and Alex Rins only 17th and 18th fastest on Frida🧔y practice at COTA.

Fabio Quartararo, MotoGP, Grand Prix of the Americas, 12 April
Fabio Quartararo, MotoGP, Grand Prix of the Americas, 12 April

Monster Yamaha riders 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Fabio Quartararo and 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Alex Rins were left 17th and 18th in Friday practice for the Americas MotoGP at COTA, sending them both into Saജturday’s Qualifying 1 session.

The pair were separated by just 0.036s but 1.4s behind fastest man Jorge Martin (Pramac Ducati) and꧋ half-a-second from the final top ten place for direct Q2 access.

“It was more difficult than we expected,” confessed Quartararo, who was ridiꦐng for the first time since his new Yamaha contract was announce𓆉d.

“We tried many things to try to find more turning compared to this morning, but we didn't really find it. Wꦚe expected the times to be a little bit better and not this far from the top. But let's see tomorrow.

“Hope🥃fully we can find small things to improve the feeling. 😼The top speed is a positive point.

“We were able to play a little bit more with the𝓡 power today, especially in slow corners. We have a little bit more aero, but we need t꧃o improve the turning.

“I feel l🦩ike we soon will make the step that we want.”

Defending COTA winner Rins was riding the M1 for the first time in Tex💫as.

“We are working quite hard. We started FP1 and it was bit difficult to find the best way to be fast. I'm struggling on the change of🉐 direction,” he explained. “Tﷺhis is not new, but this time I also found it quite difficult to stop the bike on hard braking. But we are working to find a solution, for sure.

“Let's see. Today was a good day in terms of laps and in terms of trying different things on the bi🅷ke. So, right now we need to analyse, and we need to select the best package for the qualy and the Sprint tomorrow.”

Alex Rins, MotoGP, Grand Prix of the Americas, 12 April
Alex Rins, MotoGP, Grand Prix of the Americas, 12 April

Team director Massimo Meregalli adm♚itted t♋he Yamaha riders were further behind than hoped.

“We are further behind here at COTA than we had hoped. Our goal was, as always, to be inside the top 10 to have the best chances for qualifying tomorrow, b🤡ut we are about a second off the mark where we want to be,” Meregalli said.

“Consequently, both Fabio and Álex have to take part in Q1 tomorrow. We ne🐼ed to work hard to find a time improvement and gꦫet ready for qualifying and the Sprint.”

Both Quartﷺararo and Rins went directly 𓄧through to Qualifying 2 at the previous Portimao round, while the Frenchman finished on the podium with third place at COTA last year.

But Yamaha wasn’t the only manufacturer to struggle on day one. 🔜♛;

Both factory KTMs and all four Honda🌊s also missed the top ten cut, creating a hotly contested Qualifying 1 line-up, where only the top two riders will progress to the pole position shootout.

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