MotoGP: Quartararo Says Yamaha Has 'Clear Direction to Work'

Yamaha failed to impress at the Austin American circuit. After signing a two-year contract extension with Yamaha, Fabio Quartararo struggled to a 12th-place finish in the main event. Despite finishing on the podium at one of his three 2023 Grand Prix events, the 2021 world champion has struggled mightily to replicate that performance thus far. Starting from P16, Quartararo didn't have the start he was hoping for. In the early going, he had battled his way up to fourteenth place. As the first lap came to a close, the Frenchman dropped to twenty-first place after going wide. There was a bit of playing catch-up for the rider in number 20. He had closed on his teammate and was in seventeenth place by lap eight. They switched places one lap later, setting Quartararo in motion to try to earn a point towards the championship. By lap 12, he had passed Augusto Fernandez and was in thirteenth place. After closing the deficit behind Jack Miller by more than three seconds on the last lap, Quartararo finished twelfth, 22.899 seconds behind the winner.

After the race, Fabio Quartararo said: "I went straight, unfortunately, on the first lap in Turn 12. I lost a few positions but, to be honest, I expected worse. My pace was not good, but the drop of the tyre was not too bad. Maybe we could have managed a bit better position, but I think this weekend was all about trying many things, and we mainly focused on improving the bike. I started the Race with a bike I didn't try before. This weekend was great because we basically tried many, many things. I think it's great for our experience. We know what we need, and having a clear direction to work towards is something positive."

MotoGP: Lin Jarvis to leave Yamaha

During Friday's MotoGP Americas GP, Lin Jarvis shocked everyone by announcing his departure from his role as managing director at Monster Energy Yamaha at the end of the season. Despite his age of 66, Jarvis, who has worked for the Iwata-based manufacturer for almost 20 years, joined the company 26 years ago, in 1999, and has been the project manager ever since. Yamaha's ambitious project to recover the path to success is in full swing as Jarvis leaves, citing that the time is right to make this transition. We do not yet know who will succeed him.