The championship leader arrived at Misano with a 53-point advantage over Pecco Bagnaia and left with 48 and one race less. However, Quartararo needed to come out more than 50 over the second-place finisher to have the first match ball for the title in two weeks’ time in Austin.
The Frenchman minimized damage and was even about to increase his income. El Diablo was sandwiched on the grid between four Ducatis and, as he said on Saturday, he took it easy at the start. The one from Nice made a race from less to more after opting for the medium rear tire against the soft one mounted by Bagnaia. The Italian managed to have an advantage of almost three seconds over him, but in the second half he was able to neutralize him and entered the finish line glued to his wheel, although he was unable to get the bike into him once.
“At the beginning [the Ducatis] passed me on the left and on the right. I attacked as if it were the first lap. We lacked some power, especially to overtake Miller. I passed him where I didn’t think I could. My pace It has been the best except at the beginning. It is a pleasure to fight until the end, summed up #20 on DAZN .
Quartararo assures that he did not reserve anything and that he tried to win the race without thinking about the title.
“In this race I thought little about the championship and more about winning. I gave my all to win, but it wasn’t enough. Going to the limit to catch Pecco almost made me fall three or four times. It’s the difference between thinking about the championship. Losing five points was great,” he said.
The Frenchman was seen in the parc fermé checking the state of the tires.
“We come back in a month and in the end everything we see is interesting. We have another race here and we know we have to work in the third sector. I know what I have to work on to try to win a place.”
Before returning to Misano, the championship will visit the Circuit of the Americas , where a priori the Yamaha should suffer. Quartararo trusts that Marc Márquez will give him a hand where he has won all the races except for the one in 2019, when he crashed leading.
“I hope Marc wins in Austin. It’s a circuit that we haven’t been to for a long time and I have good memories, but we’ll see. I’m motivated to go to Austin and give my best,” he added.
(Click on the link or on the image to see all the photos of the MotoGP San Marino GP 2021)
