Mission accomplished for Quartararo: “We believe in it until the end”

12^e on the grid, injured in the left middle finger... the race promised to be difficult for fabio quartararo in Sepang. But the world champion showed that he had not yet given up by snatching an excellent third place.

Thanks to this result, the Frenchman prevented Francesco Bagnaia, although the winner, from succeeding him on the throne of the MotoGP this week-end. Author of an excellent start, Quartararo quickly moved up to fourth before being promoted to third after the fall of Jorge Martin. “I saw Pecco make a very good start and a good first braking, so I said to myself that it was all or nothing,” declared the Frenchman on Canal+. It went well, I had a good first lap and managed to keep a good pace. I gave my best and I'm very happy with my race. »

To hope to retain his crown in Valencia, Quartararo will have to win and hope that Bagnaia finishes beyond 14^e place. “The objective was to try to fend off Pecco's title, and that's what we did,” he confides. It's practically impossible, but nothing is impossible, we believe in it until the end. It will be 25 points or nothing at all, but after such difficult races, I'm really happy to have had such a good race. »

A fracture to watch out for

During the 20 laps of the race, Quartararo also had to grit his teeth. The Frenchman suffers from a fracture of his left middle finger which appears much worse than expected. “The finger isn’t feeling very well, so we’ll see,” he said. I'll take some more tests when I get back and we'll see what we need to do. »