Fabia Quartararo: “We weren’t in the rhythm”

fabio quartararo expected a lot from this first European round in Jerez. After the endless straights at the start of the season, this weekend arrived on a very different route with a short development of 4,42km and a straight of only 607 meters. A garden suitable for agile Yamahas... Except that everything did not go as planned.

The Frenchman, however, was deliberately optimistic before the start of the tests: “Being back on the podium in Austin was great, but we still have to work, however noted Quartararo. My starts improved a lot in Austin compared to Argentina, and that helped me reach third place in the race. Jerez is a good circuit for us. We're usually pretty competitive here, and we can fight for the win, so I'm keeping that goal again this year. »

His technical team unfortunately decided to skip a time attempt during the first session to concentrate on analyzing race pace in long runs. A surprising decision when everyone predicted a much warmer and slower track in the afternoon!

Still a lot of work ahead for Yamaha © Michelin

And what was supposed to happen happened when Quartararo found himself forced to strip down to try to improve his mark in the session... to no avail.

“I had a lot of problems. We need to understand why we weren't on pace today. I hope we will find a solution for tomorrow and that we will have a good qualification, noted the pilot Monster Yamaha when he got off his motorbike. This morning, apart from the sensations with the soft front tire, which were bad, my general feeling was not bad, but I was more cautious. This afternoon we tried all the tire options and stuck with the front medium which for me will be the best tire for the race. But we didn't find many positive improvements. We will try to turn things around, and we will do our best tomorrow. »

First elements of response in Q1 where Fabio Quartararo will have to face, among others, Marco Bezzecchi, Pecco Bagnaia and Alex Rins to win one of the two places still available for Q2.

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