Penalty denies Fabio Quartararo podium at Emilia Romagna GP

Michelle Liew

September 21, 2020

Despite short of a podium triumph, Quartararo and Morbidelli managed to gain positives throughout.

Fabio Quartararo denied podium this time | Photo credits: MotoGP

PETRONAS Yamaha SRT battled their way through the Emilia Romagna GP and was short of a podium victory this time. Despite the perseverance and optimism, Fabio Quartararo was unable to finish with splendour as the Frenchman was handed a penalty for exceeding track limits. This caused Quartararo to drop to fourth place. On the bright side, improvements paved way for Franco Morbidelli as the Italian battled his way through illness to secure ninth place.

Quartararo and Morbidelli will now prepare for the Gran Premi de Catalunya. The race will take place at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya next weekend (25-27 September).

Razlan Razali (Team Principal)

“Not the kind of results we expected after a great Misano last time. We are disappointed but there are positives. Clearly we are disappointed with the penalty that was given to Fabio, but it is what it is. We have to accept the fourth position and that we are still second in the championship. Franco recovered well after the lap one incident to finish ninth, and move to fifth in the championship. We are happy with this, we just need to do better next weekend and maintain consistency. There are still seven races to go, in which we can fight for the championship.”

Fabio Quartararo (PETRONAS Yamaha SRT)- As It Happened

“I’m really happy about my race because it is important to finish in third position after all the weekends that we struggled. I received the long lap penalty, but I didn’t receive any messages about track limit warnings on my dashboard so I was a bit surprised by it. I know I had three times where I went over track limits. But the last two ones I didn’t know where they happened at the time.”

“It is disappointing and frustrating to have this penalty, but I am looking forward to Barcelona. Overall I’m happy with my race because I had a good pace and, although it was difficult for us to overtake, I was fighting until the end to be on the podium. Also, the start was much better and I feel like we have improved it a lot. Let’s see what we can do in Barcelona next weekend.”

Franco Morbidelli (PETRONAS Yamaha SRT)- As It Happened

“I’m still trying to recover from my stomach bug, I have been feeling very sick. I have to say thanks to my dietician who has been able to give me the right foods to have enough energy for this race. Over the weekend I have been getting better. But I will go home and get checked just to see if there is something to aid recovery further. I hope to be at 100% in Barcelona.”

“Despite this, I think we had the chance to be on the podium this weekend. But unfortunately, another rider on the first lap took me out. I lost a lot of time there and I had a small issue with the bike, but I was able to make a good recovery. I’m happy though as I wasn’t expecting to finish ninth. So thanks to the team as well because they have done an unbelievable job with very little input from me this weekend. We now aim to arrive in Barcelona well prepared and ready to attack.”