Fabio Quartararo and Franco Morbidelli battled at the Le Mans track to bring home the best possible result in a difficult and demanding weekend. The 2021 World Champion came to the appointment at the Circuit Bugatti, in front of his fans, charged and motivated to achieve a good result, after the tests held at Jerez de la Frontera. The public never failed to support him, but in the end Fabio collected less than expected, also due to a physical problem that limited his performance. Franco, on the other hand, was never able to show his pace as he was caught up in the traffic of his rivals.
The Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Team duo started on Friday working on the set-up of the bike to find the right balance. A solid first day, however, in which the riders failed to gain direct access to Q2.
On Saturday morning, after the last free practice, they faced the first qualifying session to try and get the access to the round that would have been worth the first rows of the grid. Quartararo tried hard, but in the end he was out by just 0.023 thousandths, finishing 13th in 1.31.366. Morbidelli, on the other hand, did not find the perfect lap, finishing 17th in 1.31.886.
In the Sprint Race Fabio did not start well and lost some positions while Franco advanced in the classification. El Diablo put in a good pace that allowed him to climb back up to the top ten and climb up to 8th place, also overtaking his team mate. Unfortunately, four laps from the end he lost the front and had to give up the race and a top ten result that would have brought him some points. However, the French crowd showed support for their local hero, who then returned to the pits. Morbidelli finished 13th.
On Sunday for the weekend classic the riders started with the idea of aiming for the top ten and trying to bring home as many points as possible. Quartararo started with a forearm problem that limited him, but despite the difficulties, the desire to do well at home prevailed and he managed a very good 7th place finish. Morbido, on the other hand, climbed up the classification lap by lap, moving up to 10th position.
At the moment Quartararo is 7th in the world championship with 49 points, while Morbidelli 13th with 40 points. The next round will be at Mugello for the Italian Grand Prix from 9th to 11th June.