Fabio Quartararo needs to win races again if he wants to maintain his comfortable lead in the general classification so far. The Frenchman, who has not been on the top of the podium since the Sachsenring , arrives at the Aragon Grand Prix with Pecco Bagnaia, winner of the last four races, thirty points behind.
In addition, the current world champion will have to face Motorland, a track in which he has never finished feeling comfortable . “It’s a difficult circuit, although [the Yamahas] have always been fast here. But in the race we have never been able to get a good result, especially in recent years,” he explained at the press conference.
Minutes later, he clarified that “it’s not about the circuit.” ” In the last sector we suffer from the great acceleration that has to be done, and the last corner resists me”, to which he added the “worrying” back straight. “But generally speaking last year we were fast. We have to understand how to minimize our problems in the race.”
Fortunately, the Frenchman will be helped by a new chassis ; an evolution that premiered in the Misano tests but that does not finish convincing him 100%. “There are some things where he’s better and some where he’s a bit worse, but we have to test it. We’ll test it on Friday, I don’t know if it’s FP1 or FP2. We’ll see how it works out, but I’m pretty confident in it.” .
Those two days of testing in Misano were positive for Yamaha, as it gave them “morale” after “a difficult race [in San Marino]. They were also able to release the new engine , for which they hired a former Ferrari engineer, and with which ‘El Diablo’ seems to have been satisfied. “I would love to be able to mount the 2023 engine now, but it is not possible,” he joked.
Regarding the fight for the title , Quartararo seems to be keeping cool. The Frenchman accumulates four great prizes in which Pecco Bagnaia cut points. The Italian has already beaten Aleix Espargaró in San Marino, and now he has the Yamaha rider within a stone’s throw. “Thirty points is thirty points, so what I have to do is give it my all and go to the limit”, declared Fabio, trying to play down the matter.
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