MotoGP Aragon: What went wrong for Fabio Quartararo?

Fabio Quartararo started the race well, looking to extend his title lead running in the top 3 before dropping to P18.

Aragon was majorly a weekend to forget for Fabio Quartararo who now sits in second place in the overall standings after scoring a big fat 0 at Aragon, this follows an outstanding comeback on Saturday, coming back from a horrific crash to take pole position in a stunning manner.

Quartararo did not have an easy weekend, crashing on Friday and Saturday with his Saturday crash hard enough for him to be taken off on a stretcher and go for an x-ray, thankfully the rider was confirmed as not having any broken bones but he was still in pain with a visible limp.

The pain from the crash and the bruising around his hip is not what caused his race issues, contrary to popular belief. During the race Fabio was able to forget about this and get the job done, starting from pole he had a good opening lap running in the top 3 before the issues started, his front tyre expanded and the pressure built up to a point where he had no feeling and was struggling to corner, going wide lots of times during the race.

“We had an issue with the front tyre, it is so strange that the pressure went so high in these circumstances, normally we have these problems in Malaysia or Thailand [where it is hot],” said the Frenchman.

“We had a big problem and could not corner how I wanted, we had a good first lap but the problems started on lap two. The tyre pressure rose and went too high to a point where we could not control the bike.”

Fabio did not have a strong weekend besides the one-lap pace, he could get pole with one lap pace but his race pace was not fast enough for the win, confirming this saying. “We had pace for the top 5/6, but the position we were fighting for was a total disaster [P15], it was so hard to manage the front tyre, it was horrible.”

Thankfully, MotoGP are racing at the same circuit again next week, giving the young rider another week to study and work on his consistency and fix these issues, “We expect something better [next weekend] and will try to improve the front pressure and the consistency of the rear tyre.”

Let’s see what he can do next weekend and get his title fight back on track.

Featured image – www.motogp.com