The Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Team made a positive start to the Grand Prix of Austria at the Spielberg circuit on Friday. Fabio Quartararo secured a place inside the top 10 in the Practice session to earn direct passage to Q2. Teammate Álex Rins concluded the day in 16th position in an incredibly tight session: the first 19 riders were covered by just 0.949s.

Quartararo started the weekend in 15th place in FP1 with a best lap of 1'30.772s while evaluating a new exhaust package on his Yamaha. The Frenchman showed strong pace throughout the afternoon and was running 13th when a red flag halted the session with 11 minutes and 42 seconds remaining. First out after the restart, he kicked off the shoot-out for a top-10 spot with a 1'28.972s lap and initially climbed to eighth. A final effort of 1'28.817s right before the chequered flag on lap 26/26, secured him 10th position, 0.436s from the fastest rider, and a direct place in Q2, his second of the season.

Rins was looking to make progress after ending FP1 in 21st position with a fastest lap of 1'31.338s. In the Practice session, Rins was classified 19th with a best lap of 1'29.724s when the red flag interrupted proceedings. After the restart, he pushed hard in the final time attack and improved to a 1'29.101s on lap 22/22. The effort left him 16th in the final standings, 0.720s from the top of the timesheets.

The Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Team will be back in action tomorrow for the Saturday MotoGP sessions. FP2 will be held from 10:10-10:40 (GMT+2), followed by qualifying from 10:50-11:30. The 14-lap Sprint is scheduled to start at 15:00.