Morbidelli, Quartararo take Qatar lessons to Argentina

Petronas Yamaha SRT riders Franco Morbidelli and Fabio Quartararo both left Qatar feeling short-changed by the outcome of the opening 2019 race.

Morbidelli spent two-thirds of the grand prix with mentor and factory Yamaha star Valentino Rossi, at one point passing his fellow Italian for eighth, only to slip back to eleventh as a soft rear tyre gamble backfired in the closing stages.

Now Morbidelli heads to a track where he won in the Moto2 class and took two points for Marc VDS Honda in MotoGP last season, but without any prior Yamaha set-up data.

"In Qatar, during both the test and the race weekend, we found a good base setting so now we need to see if it works for us in Argentina," Morbidelli said.

"I like the track in Argentina a lot, so it will be fun to go back to Termas de Rio Hondo and feel the passion and the support of the Argentinian fans again. I have great memories of my past performances there. Termas de Rio Hondo is a circuit I managed to take a dominant win at and where I always have a good feeling.

"There are many factors that have to come together to make a good result in MotoGP, so in this second race we are going to try to learn from our mistakes, improve on the result from Losail and demonstrate our true potential."

Rookie Quartararo was one of the surprises of the Qatar weekend, qualifying in a stunning fifth place for his premier-class debut - only to have it torn away from him when he stalled on the warm-up lap.

The French teenager went on to set the fastest race lap as he battled back to 16th place from a pit lane start, but like his team-mate Quartararo struggled for grip in the closing stages.

"I wasn’t expecting to be in the top ten, especially not the top five, during my debut in MotoGP," Quartararo said.

"We had good pace all weekend there, but the fact I had to start from pit lane meant that we used the tyres too quickly in the first part of the race.

"That is something to learn from at this next race in Argentina and an area that we will continue to improve in throughout the season.

"I like the Termas de Rio Hondo Circuit because it has some wide corners and even though it is a little bumpy I am sure it will be good fun to ride a MotoGP bike there.

"We arrive in Argentina without any prior testing there so the first laps will be in FP1. We will have to stay calm but also learn the track quickly and discover the key points to the track with our bike."

Suzuki's Joan Mir was the only rookie to score points in Qatar, with eighth place.