Phillip Island.- Although Fabio Quartararo has emotionally tried to turn the page after what happened two weeks ago in Thailand, where he finished the race 17th, on a sporting level the Yamaha boy was unable to close the classification this Saturday in the best position of the Austrian Grand Prix, and will start behind Pecco Bagnaia (3rd) and Aleix Espargaró (4th), the two riders who have the best shot at him in the general classification and who, on paper, have more competitive bikes, especially the Ducati, on this track.
“I’m happy with my timing,” admitted the Frenchman. “But frustrated by the position. I make very good laps but it’s never enough,” added a somewhat disenchanted Quartararo.
While some riders, such as Marc Márquez, managed to improve their times following the wheel, Quartararo had to find the fastest lap without references, which ended up penalizing him.
“It’s not that I don’t like to look for slipstreams, it’s that whenever I try they cut or the front tire gets cold,” he said.
Despite the fact that under normal conditions starting from the second row is an optimal position to be able to be in the front group and get out of trouble at the start, doing it with your main rivals in front is not the best.
“The starting position is not a disaster; I would say that it is fine. The first two rows were the objective”, he settled before warning that “it will be a strange race due to the high consumption of the tires”.
At the moment, those who best save the rear compound are the Ducati riders.
“I don’t know what I have to do, but I do have to be careful with the rear tire.”
Quartararo will have to trust everything to an explosive start, just what he achieved in Thailand, where he started from the front row, and try to overtake in the first few laps.
“There are places where you can try to overtake, but the key will be the consumption of the rear tire,” he insisted again.
In that sense, the Frenchman did not want to reveal which compound will be chosen for the race.
“It doesn’t matter much what compound you use, but be careful with the tire because of consumption.”
At a pace level, Fabio doesn’t look bad, but he understands that his rivals are the same or better.
“I lapped behind Pecco in the fourth free test and I think there are several riders with a very good pace. I’m confident, I did my time alone. I feel good on this track,” settled the Yamaha rider.
