Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP

Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Make Up Ground in Phillip Island Sprint

Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP's Fabio Quartararo and Álex Rins made up for a difficult Grand Prix of Australia Saturday morning in the afternoon's 13-lap Sprint, riding from P19 and P18 on the grid to P11 and P13 respectively.

GRAND PRIX OF AUSTRALIA

SPRINT

Phillip Island (Australia), 24th October 2026

11th

F. Quartararo
+11.215 / 13 LAPS

13th

Á. Rins
+11.568 / 13 LAPS

Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP's Fabio Quartararo and Álex Rins gained positive momentum in the Grand Prix of Australia Sprint. Showing perseverance, the teammates finished the 13-lap contest in 11th and 13th place respectively.

Quartararo started from P19 and made up five places on the opening two laps. A technical issue for Johann Zarco on lap 4 promoted the Yamaha rider to P13, while a battle with Enea Bastianini halted his charge towards Iker Lecuona ahead. Late retirements for Jorge Martín and Raul Fernández elevated Quartararo to 11th. Coming just 0.442s short to join the battle for ninth, he crossed the finish line 11.215s from the winner.

Rins, starting from P18, dropped to the back of the field on the opening lap but quickly recovered, passing Francesco Bagnaia, Augusto Fernández, Franco Morbidelli, and Maverick Viñales to climb up to P15 by lap 6. Taking advantage of Zarco's retirement and late incidents for Martín and Raul Fernández, the Spaniard moved up to P13. Rapidly closing in on the four-rider battle for ninth ahead in the final stages, Rins crossed the line in 13th place, 11.568s from first.

Following today's Sprint, Quartararo is now 15th in the MotoGP World Championship standings with 74 points, while Rins keeps 20th place with 25 points. Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP stay 10th in the Team Championship with 99 points, and Yamaha remain fifth in the Constructor Championship with 99 points.

Tomorrow*, the teammates return to action for Warm Up from 09:40-09:50 (GMT+11), followed by the 27-lap MotoGP Race at 14:00 local time.

* Please note that daylight saving time ends in Europe on Sunday 25 October. Fans and media in Europe should be aware that the clocks are turned back one hour between the Moto3 Race and the Moto2 Race, increasing the time difference by one hour.

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MASSIMO MEREGALLI
Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Team Director

"Considering our starting positions and how much we struggled this morning, there are quite a few positives to take away from this Sprint. Fabio and Álex both made decent progress through the field and showed good race pace from the first lap to the last. Fabio was able to gain eight positions, and also Álex recovered well after dropping back early on. Our dry performance level was more competitive than the wet qualifying results might have suggested, but it looks like it will rain again for the Race. We will analyse today's morning sessions' data carefully, comparing [Jack] Miller's data, to try to prepare something better for tomorrow."

FABIO QUARTARARO
Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Rider

"This morning I wasn't feeling good at all in the mixed conditions, but in the Sprint race I was pretty okay. I'm just missing feeling with the front in the last two sectors. Hopefully we can find something in the wet tomorrow so we can have it. I think I'll feel better in full wet conditions than in the mixed conditions we had this morning. It's true that Jack [Miller] was also really fast today so, for sure, we have things we can learn."

ÁLEX RINS
Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Rider

"I'm a little satisfied because I had a good pace, but when I caught up with [Enea] Bastianini in the last five laps, I had no way to get through on him. The unique point, where I was much better than him, was in the first metres coming out of corner 12 – I was catching him there. I would be parallel, next to him, and then fall back again, so it was quite mixed. It looks like tomorrow it will rain. In the wet conditions I think our situation will be similar to what it was in the dry."