Petronas Yamaha SRT makes point-scoring MotoGP debut

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia owned MotoGP team, Petronas Yamaha Sepang Racing Team (Petronas Yamaha SRT) picked up their first point in the opening season race at Qatar Grand Prix, on Sunday.

Italy’s Franco Morbidelli picked up the team’s first points after finishing the race at Losail International Circuit in 11th place while his rookie teammate, Fabio Quartararo of France finished in 16th place despite starting fifth on the grid after being forced to start the race from the pit lane after his bike stalled in the warm-up lap.

“I would split my race tonight (Sunday night) into two parts. The first half was good despite a bad start, because I was able to recover positions easily, run with the front group and manage the tyres. Unfortunately, we made a bad choice with the rear tyre and went for the soft option when the majority of riders went for the medium.

“I had to make the tyre last for as long as I could, but from around the halfway stage I started to struggle to stay with the group. It is a shame because we had the pace to finish higher up and we worked really well, being reasonably strong throughout the weekend, so we need to focus on the positives and keep this dynamic going in Argentina,” said Morbidelli as quoted in the team official website.

The 24-year-old rider started from the third row and lost some positions in the opening exchanges and dropped to 13th before fighting back into the top ten and lapping as high as eighth.

The Italian spent a long time with the lead group before eventually losing touch, crossing the line in eleventh place to score five championship points.

The 2019 season opening race was won by Italian Andrea Dovizioso of Mission Winnow Ducati who fended off the reigning champion, Spain’s Marc Marquez of Repsol Honda Team at the last corner to win a dramatic season-opening by a mere 0.023 seconds.

The Great Britain rider, Cal Crutchlow of LCR Honda Castrol finished third.

Meanwhile Malaysia’s Khairul Idham Pawi, who made his Petronas Sprinta Racing debut in the opening round of the 2019 Moto2 World Championship crossed the line in 17th place.

Khairul Idham, who started from 21st on the grid, was initially held up after an incident involving multiple riders on the first lap. The setback cost the Malaysian valuable time and positions, cutting him adrift from the group that was battling for points.

“It was a shame about the first lap because a few riders crashed in front of me and even though I was able to save it I lost a few positions. It is important to learn from incidents like this in a race, but I lost a lot of time because of it on the first lap.

“I tried to focus on maintaining a strong pace on my own, and I was able to pass a few riders. I am sorry to the team that I wasn’t able to finish in the points, which was my objective, but the level is very tight. We have to keep working in the same way ahead of the Grand Prix of Argentina and try to take another step forward,” said the 20-year-old.

In Moto3 class, the Petronas Sprinta Racing team picked up the first points of the season when John McPhee finished in 13th place.

The Scottish rider had to recover from a difficult start to the race, when he went backwards from fourth place and found himself outside the pointscoring positions but manage to make gradual progress in every lap, recovering as high as eighth place before eventually taking 13th in a close battle to the line.

Meanwhile his teammate, Ayumu Sasaki of Japan was forced out of the race on the opening lap after being hit by another rider. - Bernama