Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP riders Fabio “El Diablo” Quartararo and Franco “Franky” Morbidelli planed in over the weekend for a two-day visit as part of their pre-season tour.
Quartararo and Morbidelli were welcomed by the principals of Yamaha Philippines and select media at the Manila Marriot Hotel. Also in attendance were the Yamaha Racing riders, Mckinley Kyle Paz, Gian Carlo Mauricio and April King Mascardo.
El Diablo and Franky fielded some questions from the audience, mostly centering on the upcoming 2023 MotoGP season. Both riders were coy about their chances, but with the full backing of the Factory Yamaha team, both were in agreement that they will be fighting it out for the title. Prodded by the media on who they feel is the team to beat this season, Franky simply said, “the red team”.
In a special Q and A with both riders, we had the chance to ask the following:
Having raced around the world, which track is your favorite?
Fabio: “I would say Mugello, because it is really fast, uphill, downhill, really technical, I think it is one of the most technical of the championship”, he also added that he was happiest in Mugello.
Franco: “Australia, Philip Island, it’s a really beautiful track, it’s a beautiful place, it really is a wonderful country to go and the lay-out is really challenging, very fast, very flowing corners”.
What does your training regimen before the season look like?
Franco: “It is pretty strict and pretty hard, training camp before the start of the season, then after the season has started, you know you race a lot so there is not a lot of training to do, so the big thing, the big work needs to be done before the start of the season, it is a mix of cardio, weights, motorcycles , and all sort of things that keeps you (in) motion”.
With tire choices during the race, how much input do you have on the choice of tire or is it just all a team decision?
Fabio: “basically it is a rider’s decision with the help of the team, combination of both, but you know in every single track we have different compound even if on the tv you see soft medium or hard, the soft of Mugello is different of the soft in Barcelona”.
The following day saw Fabio and Franco suit up for a brief ride around the Clark International Speedway, the duo was hamming it up for the crowd, with Quartararo even doing a burnout after his run, but, it was Franky who really entertained the crowd, the #21 bike kept on going for about 10 minutes more after all participants have left the track.
As an added bonus, Yamaha Philippines also raffled off trips to the 2023 Malaysian MotoGP. Four winners and their companion will be flown to Kuala Lumpur to watch the Petronas Grand Prix of Malaysia, in Sepang, LIVE!
Suffice to say, that all attendees left the circuit beaming with delight. This was one weekend not easily forgotten.
