Alcañiz.- Only once this year Fabio Quartararo was not on the front row of the starting grid, precisely in the second race of the championship, in Doha, which ended up becoming his first victory of the season.
So the Frenchman is in his usual numbers, which have led him to finish this year eight times on the podium, a goal that, however, he does not see as feasible for this Sunday.
“I knew that on one lap he was quite fast. Last year we already took pole here, but the Ducatis weren’t that fast then. It was something unexpected for me, but I’m happy with the time I’ve done because I think it’s the best I could get. In the last corner I can improve, there is a combination of factors that makes us go slow there. Tomorrow we will try to improve and work on the handling in the last corner thinking about the race”, valued the Frenchman from the outset.
“I don’t set a clear goal for tomorrow. I want to have fun, it would be great to fight for the podium, but to be honest I don’t feel like I have enough pace to be in that battle.”
“I will try to stay hooked to the riders in front and fight until the end. But we have to be able to take a step forward in the warm up to be able to think about fighting for the podium”, he insisted.
One of the keys, if not the most important, will be managing tire consumption and getting the compound right for the race, especially on the rear wheel.
“I have been very impressed with the performance of the rear soft rubber. I went out in FP4 with the hard one and I didn’t like it. I swapped it for a used soft and it has worked well, but I think I still have things to do tomorrow morning before the race to take a step forward in the last corner so I can fight with those in front.
Quartararo insisted that the last sector of the circuit is the one that costs him the most, specifically the last corner from the entrance to the finish line.
“It is a type of curve that is very difficult for the Yamaha , it is very long, like at the Sachsenring. We lose a lot of spin at the beginning and it’s hard for me to be aggressive at the entrance. I’m not being very good, I’ll try something different, “he said.
“I want to check Franco Morbidelli ‘s data from last year. We are going to try to do it like him because he was going very fast at that point”, he admitted.
Asked about the tire options, the Frenchman gave his ideal combination.
“I used the hard one in FP4 and it hasn’t worked for me, so I don’t have it in the range of possibilities, my choice for the race is the hard front and soft rear”, he uncovered.
(Before continuing reading, click on this link or on the image to see the photos of the Aragón GP 2021 MotoGP classification)
For the second race, Fabio had Cal Crutchlow as his boxing partner, and was asked if he was being a help or if he would prefer the Briton to focus more on his work as a test rider .
“I am putting pressure on Yamaha to do more testing. There is something we are missing. We see many pilots doing tests in other factories and it is something very important. Cal wants to do them and we’re not doing them. We have to test the new bike for next year”, he warned.
In the next race, El Diablo will debut a new boxing partner, the third of the year after Maverick Viñales and Crutchlow, the Italian Franco Morbidelli, who will reappear after the injury and will do so as the new official driver.
“The thing that will cost you the most will be to return, not the bike. It is very similar to the one I was using, it will adapt quickly to the bike. What will cost him more is that he has skipped many races and is not one hundred percent. It will have more physical difficulties than adaptation”, sentenced the leader of the World Cup.
