Yamaha aims for another Q2 spot at Mugello

While, like Honda, Yamaha considers the Japanese Grand Prix at Motegi at the end of the season a home race, the Mugello round is, in a way, the second round where Massimo Meregalli's team will battle on their own soil. Indeed, Yamaha's European racing division, established a few years ago to allow for testing on more representative circuits, is based in Italy, not far from Mugello, a truly legendary track.

This should give the tuning fork brand extra motivation for the seventh round of the season. While the Italian circuit has characteristics that should suit the Yamaha YZR-M1 well, with long, medium-speed corners, the circuit's main straight, one of the longest in the championship and the one where the highest top speeds are reached before the daunting San Donato braking zone, could pose problems for fabio quartararo and Álex Rins, the official drivers.

"Mugello is always one of the highlights of the championship calendar, and it's a pleasure to race here," explains Meregalli. “The circuit is relatively close to our headquarters, so we can consider this a home race. Mugello is known for its fast, flowing lines, which should suit us, but its long main straight is one of the fastest of the season, which could be a challenge. However, since Le MansWe are on an upward trajectory and have seen encouraging progress. Our goal is to continue building on this progress this weekend. We know it won't be easy, but securing a direct spot in Q2, as we did in the previous two races, will be crucial. That's the objective for Friday, and we'll start from there.

For his part, while he is eager to ride again on a circuit much appreciated by the riders, Fabio Quartararo is not getting his hopes up too much about the results to come this weekend in Tuscany: “Mugello is always a special race. It’s a truly beautiful and varied circuit, and I’ve had some great times there in the past. We made progress at Le Mans, worked well in Barcelona and achieved good results, but we know that Mugello’s longer straight and the resulting slipstream effects will make things difficult this week. Let’s see what we can do. As always, I’ll do my best to achieve the best possible results.”

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