Prima Pramac Yamaha MotoGP

Difficult Sprint Race in Barcelona for Prima Pramac Yamaha MotoGP

After the encouraging signs shown on Friday, Prima Pramac Yamaha MotoGP endured a difficult Sprint Race at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, with Jack Miller and Toprak Razgatlıoğlu finishing outside the points in challenging conditions for the Yamaha YZR-M1 package.

GRAND PRIX OF CATALUNYA

SPRINT

Barcelona, May 16th 2026

16th

JACK MILLER
+14,334 / 12 LAPS

17th

TOPRAK RAZGATLIOGLU
+20,452 / 12 LAPS

Saturday proved to be a frustrating day for Prima Pramac Yamaha MotoGP at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, where the positive momentum shown during Friday Practice — as well as the encouraging progress seen in recent rounds at Jerez and Le Mans — did not translate into the Sprint Race results.

Jack Miller and Toprak Razgatlıoğlu struggled throughout the race, particularly on the long straights of the Catalan circuit where the current specification of the developing Yamaha YZR-M1 package proved unable to match the acceleration and top speed of its rivals. At the same time, the riders also found it difficult to fully exploit corner speed advantages, especially on a circuit already well known for its low-grip conditions and demanding tyre management.

The combination of limited grip, difficult tyre life management and the characteristics of the Barcelona layout made the race particularly complicated for both riders, who spent most of the Sprint battling in the lower half of the field.

At the chequered flag, Miller crossed the line in 16th position, just ahead of teammate Razgatlıoğlu in 17th after another valuable learning race for the Turkish rookie as he continues adapting to MotoGP machinery and race dynamics.

Prima Pramac Yamaha MotoGP will now look to regroup overnight and continue working on solutions ahead of Sunday. Action resumes tomorrow with Warm Up scheduled for 9:40am local time, followed by the Grand Prix race at 2:00pm.

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GINO BORSOI
Team Director, Prima Pramac Yamaha MotoGP

After a very good qualifying performance from both Jack and Quartararo, unfortunately in the race we suffered because of the difference in engine performance compared to the other manufacturers.

Honestly, I am quite convinced that overall the bike itself is working well because otherwise we would not have been able to achieve the lap times we showed in qualifying. But in race conditions, when you are missing top speed and acceleration, the other riders pass you on the straights and then you can no longer ride the lines you want or push through the corners the way you need to.

In the end, the biggest issue is that during the race we are not yet able to defend ourselves properly. We hope Yamaha can bring something as soon as possible to improve the engine performance, but this is also part of the development process and we need to continue working patiently.

At the same time, the positive aspect is that the chassis and electronics seem to be moving in the right direction, and that gives us confidence for the future.

JACK MILLER
Prima Pramac Yamaha MotoGP Rider

Qualifying this morning was decent and I also got away to a pretty good start in the race. Early on I was right behind Fabio and I felt strong in several areas of the track. I was trying to set up a move on him and managed to get alongside a couple of times, but I just couldn’t complete the pass.

Then things became a bit messy in the group and a few riders came past me at once on the straight. From there the race became really difficult because once you get stuck behind others, you lose the possibility to ride your own lines and really use your strengths in the corners.

Honestly, for most of the lap I felt competitive. We’ve clearly made a step forward with the chassis and with the front feeling of the bike, and the rear grip is also improving. But on the straight we are still suffering too much and every time I tried to prepare an overtake, the others could come back past again immediately.

It’s frustrating because I genuinely felt we had more pace than the final result shows, but at least we can see that the work we’re doing on the bike is moving us in the right direction.

TOPRAK RAZGATLIOGLU
Prima Pramac Yamaha MotoGP rider

It was another difficult race for me. I had a good battle with Augusto and in the end I managed the tyre a little bit better than him, especially on acceleration, so I was able to pass him near the end of the race. But overall I’m still not happy because after yesterday’s crash I lost a bit of confidence and mentally it affected me more than I expected.

At the beginning of the race I also made a mistake because I forgot to activate the launch device, so I immediately lost positions and from there it became very complicated. The biggest issue is still the same: I’m struggling a lot on corner entry and braking, especially here where the grip level is very strange and tyre management is extremely difficult.

Yesterday afternoon, when I followed Fabio, I improved by more than one second and that gave me motivation because I understood many things about how to ride this bike and use the tyres better. But after the qualifying crash I lost that feeling again and today I was not able to ride naturally or with enough confidence.

Tomorrow will be another very difficult race because tyre management here is not easy at all, but we will analyse all the data tonight, try a few changes and once again I will do my best to improve.