MotoGP: Fabio Quartararo “We need to get back on the podium”
Fabio Quartararo has not scored a MotoGP since the second round of the season, putting his title fight in jeopardy.
Fabio Quartararo, Yamaha and Jerez were like a perfect marriage at the start of the season with Quartararo taking two wins at both races this season, jokingly saying after the second race that he wanted a third race at the track as it worked that well for him. He had a healthy title lead with 50 points in the bag and 10 over teammate Andrea Dovizioso, incredibly solid foundations for the season.
Since then, the Yamaha and Quartararo have been through some struggles, their marriage counselling not working as it should. At Brno Quartararo struggled with the Yamaha taking a low placed seventh. Then at the two Austrian rounds, Quartararo struggled even more, especially with braking, the Yamaha’s were a lot slower than their counterparts on track, therefore having to make up time in braking, causing the Yamaha’s to encounter issues with their brakes due to over braking with Maverick Vinales losing his brakes altogether.
Following the two races, Quartararo said, “Every weekend we have something more, [we are] struggling and struggling, we are too slow in the straights, acceleration, stopping performance and turning, we have lost a lot since last year, we need to brake so hard [that] we lose our brakes.” Admitting that it would be hard for Yamaha to win a championship with a bike like this.
However, Quartararo is looking ahead to Misano, a track he feels is one of his favourites saying, “Misano is one of my favourite tracks, it has a little bit of everything: fast corners, slow corners, changes of direction from left to right.
Among other things, there is also one of my absolute favourite corners, the Curvone: you arrive in sixth gear, let it slide, use the brakes a little and then give it back on gas as soon as possible. I can’t wait to do it again this year. Besides this, I’m really curious to see how it will be with the new asphalt, we’ll see if the conditions have changed compared to last year.”
Fabio Quartararo had a heroic battle with Marc Marquez last season before being beaten on the final lap, this time, he feels he can take it home for the win, “We fought for the victory until the last lap for the first time. The goal is to try to repeat ourselves again in these two events at Misano.
We need to get back on the podium in the next races, collecting as many points as possible on tracks where our bike is much better. We are working to find the feeling with the M1 that we had in the Grand Prix held at Jerez.”
Fabio Quartararo still holds the championship lead, however Andrea Dovizioso is only 3 points behind him at the moment with a point to prove to Ducati.
