The 2021 world champion and current leader of the MotoGP World Championship was unable to complete a good Q2 in wet conditions in Japan, which will force him to start in third position on the grid, from ninth, an uncomfortable position to be able to gain a lot of positions on a circuit where the first corner is a funnel after heavy braking.
For the Frenchman, the only good news is that his main rival, the Italian Pecco Bagnaia, will start even further back, 12th, after finishing last in Q2.
“I was expecting much more,” lamented Fabio Quartararo at the bottom of qualifying. “I don’t understand how I couldn’t improve in Q2. We are a bit lost on this track in the wet,” added the Yamaha rider.
The main stumbling block for the drivers is that the race will be dry and it has only been ridden, in those conditions, in FP1 on Friday, which leaves them a little sold when it comes to choosing the compounds for the test.
“We have work to do, especially for the choice of tires. The warm up will be very important, for me and for everyone,” warned the Frenchman.
With a Yamaha in clear inferiority when it comes to overtaking, Quartararo will have to think about attacking while defending himself from those who come from behind.
“The only problem is the facilities that Aleix Espargaró and Pecco have to overtake. You have to find somewhere to pass the other riders. At the moment the only place where I can overtake is turn seven, which is not an easy place to do it,” he analyzed.
For Quartararo, the pole position achieved by Marc Márquez three years after the last one and in his second race since the comeback came as no surprise.
“Marc is the one that makes me doubt about the choice of the rear tire. In fact, I would bet my money on him with a view to tomorrow,” settled the boy from Nice.
