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PETALING JAYA: A new adventure gets under way as Malaysianowned Petronas Yamaha Sepang Racing Team make their official MotoGP debut at the Losail International Circuit in Doha, Qatar, this weekend.
After 10 months of preparation since the team’s birth in May last year, Italian Franco Morbidelli and Frenchman Fabio Quartararo will take to the track for the first race of the season in buoyant mood following an excellent pre-season.
Quartararo, who will make his MotoGP debut as the youngest rider on the grid, has defied his lack of experience with a stellar pre-season.
He spent a period of adaptation at Valencia and Malaysia earlier this year before a stunning final pre-season test in Doha last week where he set the second fastest time overall and finished just 0.233 seconds off the top. The Frenchman, only 19, has plenty of reason for optimism and will be out to bag the Rookie of the Year title captured last year by Morbidelli.
“I’m feeling confident about my first challenge as a MotoGP rider. It’s always good to arrive at a circuit where you have already tested.
“For me, a good result would be to score points in the first round of the season but looking at how I felt in the Qatar test, I want more than that.
“I also know that I have to stay calm and focused to have a good race and see what result we can manage,” said Quartararo, a onetime race winner in Moto2.
Morbidelli is ready to contest his first GP with Petronas Yamaha SRT after a positive pre-season that has seen the Italian rider finish inside the top 10 in all three official tests at Valencia, Malaysia and Doha.
With a year of premier class racing experience already under his belt, Morbidelli is hoping to take that consistency from testing into racing this year aboard his new Yamaha YZR-M1.
“I’m looking forward to starting the first GP of the year. We can be there ready to fight.
“We won’t set any objectives until we start work at Losail and put everything we have tested, and which has produced such good results, together.
“I think everything will be very close among all the riders. At this first race, we have to try and take advantage of the fact that the Yamaha bikes are working really well at this track,” said Morbidelli.