Toprak Razgatlıoğlu blamed his poor showing in Saturday’s Brazilian MotoGP Sprint on a loss of front-end grip and multiple technical and electronic problems with the Pramac Yamaha V4, calling the race “frustrating, a step back” and describing the bike as “impossible” to ride. He reported a clutch/power problem at the start that dropped him back, a mysterious loss of power on throttle release, and severe front-end instability under braking that left him “afraid to brake” and feeling the tires “like they were five years old.” Razgatlıoğlu and teammate Jack Miller were the only riders to experience the same issues, and he said the bike “wasn’t the same” compared with Friday’s running.

Those problems produced a heavy on-track toll: Razgatlıoğlu, who had qualified 12th after a strong Friday that included a surprise P3 and his first Q2 appearance, finished 18th in the 15‑lap Sprint, beating only Miller, with both Pramac Yamahas ending at the back of the field. Marc Márquez won the Sprint, finishing roughly 23 seconds ahead, while the Pramac duo were about 15 seconds behind Fabio Quartararo and nearly eight seconds behind Alex Rins; Quartararo ran a soft rear tire to sixth while the Pramac riders had chosen medium rears. Miller, who briefly led after starting 18th, battled strong understeer and a lack of front-end confidence, and both Pramac bikes were passed late by Franco Morbidelli and Enea Bastianini. The whole grid struggled with the hard front tire over the Sprint.

Pramac said it would investigate setup and electronic systems to address the clutch/power and handling problems, and team boss Campinoti’s crew planned comprehensive checks ahead of Sunday’s Grand Prix. Razgatlıoğlu’s preparation had already been disrupted by an FP2 crash he attributed to a technical fault, an incident that, with an earlier retirement in Thailand, brought his crash tally to two. He expressed hope the team’s checks and the full race would uncover the issue and deliver a better result, and Miller suggested a wet forecast for Sunday might improve their prospects.

Fabio Quartararo used telemetry from the Brazilian weekend to quantify the Yamaha V4 M1’s top-speed and horsepower shortfall versus rivals. Speed-trap readings showed Marc Márquez at 348.3 km/h and Quartararo at 336.4 km/h; Quartararo said “I was 12 km/h slower than Márquez” and estimated “roughly 80% of the problem is the engine’s lack of power.” Sprint telemetry indicated the top-speed gap narrowed in race trim to about 4.5 km/h, but Quartararo said that improvement was largely due to the track’s flowing layout rather than a wholesale Yamaha breakthrough. Sources refer to the Brazilian venue alternately as Goiânia and São Paulo; this summary uses Goiânia for the cited details.

Despite the straight-line deficit, Quartararo recovered to finish sixth in the Saturday Sprint, 7.7 seconds behind the winner. He had qualified fourth, executed an opening-lap pass on Márquez and said he pushed “to the absolute limit.” He attributed his strong middle-sector speed to a single-lap effort, admitted he benefited from other riders’ crashes to post a quick lap, and said he enjoyed the early laps despite tire wear and ongoing top-speed issues.

The weekend underlined inconsistency for Yamaha. Quartararo set the slowest lap in FP1 at Goiânia, other Yamaha riders were roughly 12–13 km/h slower than the Ducati leaders in speed-trap data, and reports differ on his prior Thailand result (sources list either 14th or 16th). Quartararo’s competitive pace on the prototype, together with his data-driven diagnosis, was offered as a rebuttal to speculation that he is merely waiting for a switch to Honda. He warned the V4 M1 is still in development and cautioned that the Sprint result should not be read as a general step forward for Yamaha, predicting tougher weekends ahead at circuits such as Austin and Jerez.

Joel Esteban took pole in Moto3 qualifying at the Brazilian Grand Prix in Goiânia, posting a 1:26.241 on his Level Up MTA KTM to head the 25-rider field. The session, run on Pirelli control tyres, produced extremely tight times up front: Valentin Perrone was only 0.206 seconds back in 1:26.447 and Hakim Danish a further 0.001 behind in 1:26.448, with Veda Pratama (1:26.506), Marco Morelli (1:26.560) and Brian Uriarte (1:26.835) completing the top six. Several factory-supported KTM entries filled the top positions and the front row was separated by mere hundredths of a second.

The weekend’s practice running had pointed to a highly competitive grid. Brian Uriarte led Free Practice One on Friday morning with a 1:32.812 for Red Bull KTM Ajo, while David Almansa dominated later sessions — topping Friday afternoon practice with a 1:30.260 (edging Cormac Buchanan by 0.003) and leading Saturday’s FP2 with a 1:27.308 on his Liqui Moly Dynavolt Intact GP KTM. Joel Kelso (1:27.365) and Perrone (1:27.466) were closest to Almansa in FP2.

Friday’s running also underlined the depth of rookie talent — six rookies finished inside the top 10 that day — and produced tight margins across the board, with Guido Pini recovering from a last-minute high-side to finish 11th and Max Quiles narrowly securing a spot in Q2 from 14th.