Quartararo: "Winning this World Cup is the biggest challenge of my life"

September 23, 2022

Motegi.- The 2021 world champion has seen how in the last five races his main pursuers have cut the distance to the front of the general classification of the MotoGP World Championship, especially the Italian Pecco Bagnaia, from Ducati, who has taken a bite out of him 81 points since the Assen race at the end of June.

Fabio Quartararo arrived in Japan after adding the second zero of the season in Aragón, where he ran into Marc Márquez in the first meters of the race and injured his chest when his bare torso brushed the asphalt.

The reaction of the Yamaha rider in the first free practice session of the Japanese Grand Prix, the only one held this Friday, was entirely positive, not so much for having set the third fastest time, behind the two official Ducati and, at last hour, surpassed by Bagnaia, but because of the strong pace set by the championship leader.

“It was intense, but good. Our rhythm is not bad, but the margin that the others have over us is beast, because I go with the hook. I did the maximum”, explained Quartararo, who wants to make clear the manifest inferiority with which he plays .

Fabio must also deal with the severe scratches he suffered on his chest, which conditions his movements inside the suit.

“ I was a bit tense at first, because the erosion burned me, but then I adapted. For Sunday they are sunny, so we must analyze what tires to use. But I am ready”, he agreed.

El Diablo finished just a few thousandths behind Jack Miller, the fastest, and Bagnaia (0.021), but he interprets that the red bike riders have more.

“ I’m close to the Ducati but they’ve made mistakes. I looked good but I expected it that way. With only one session and knowing it’s going to rain, we had to do it this way, going full throttle”.

Before the race in Assen, at the end of June, the renewal of the title for Fabio seemed only a matter of time, but the World Cup board has taken an unexpected turn that he will have to know how to manage without anyone’s help.

“ We are at a clear technical disadvantage compared to the Ducati; winning this title is the biggest challenge of my life. That disadvantage worries me and motivates me at the same time”, warns the boy from Nice.

Fabio Quartararo, Yamaha Factory Racing