Fabio Quartararo: “It’s a disaster with new tires”

fabio quartararo knows, with the appearance of Sprint races this season, qualifying will have a major role. Indeed, the starting grid will be identical for the Sprint race on Saturday and for the main race on Sunday. The two rankings will be determined by the same qualifying practice session, and a poor performance would therefore result in a racing exploit during the two rounds of the weekend.

Yamaha is not there yet © MotoGP

The smile displayed by the Frenchman on the evening of the second and penultimate day of testing at Sepang contrasted cruelly with his appearance on the bad days last night. The last day was devoted to testing the soft tires and should give a clear idea of ​​the hierarchy in terms of pure Performance. With a final 17th place, the situation is cruel for Fabio, and even more so for Yamaha because Franco Morbidelli remained stuck at the bottom of the ranking in 20th place.

As soon as he got out of the saddle, Quartararo spoke to the microphone of the official MotoGP website: “It's 3 days with mixed feelings... I'm very happy with the engine, the top speed and the pace with the worn tires. On the other hand, it's a disaster with new tires, we don't know why we're so far away. We have to identify the problem because we know that this season in particular, if we don't qualify well we have no chance of fighting for victory, especially in a Sprint race. We will have to find a solution before Portimao.”

Quartararo targets lack of pure performance

When asked about the difference in pace between his Yamaha and the Ducati and Aprilia, Fabio however tempers: “There is a big gap, it’s true, particularly on a fast lap, but I have a good overall pace. Unfortunately it will be of no use if we cannot qualify well because we will not be able to fight for victory or even for the Top 5.

Trajectory towards the title to be refined for Fabio Quartararo © Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP

Yamaha is the only team this season to only enter two bikes following the departure of RNF to Aprilia. The return to the handlebars of Cal Crutchlow, the brand's test rider, during the last day proves that the manufacturer is sorely lacking in feedback on its machine, while Ducati, to name but one, can benefit from the analyzes of 2 Teams equipped with 2023 models, with the official Team and Prima Pramac. 

It is still too early to sound the alarm, but the month which separates this first official test session from the next one at Portimao from March 11 is likely to be hectic at Yamaha.

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