Quartararo: “It’s better to take 8 points than to lose them! »

A bit like Francesco Bagnaia, his main rival for his own succession to the throne of MotoGP, fabio quartararo had to limit the damage to the championship. Even if he did not win or finish on the podium, the world champion fulfilled his mission by securing eighth place while keeping his opponent behind him... Bagnaia actually concluded his race on the mat, a godsend for Quartararo who sees his lead overall increase for the first time since the German GP.

He is now 18 lengths ahead of Bagnaia with four events remaining in the final in Valencia. “Taking into account all the circumstances and what happened, I would say that it is better to take 8 points than to lose them,” the Nice native tries to rejoice. It's good on one hand, but frustrating on the other, because I feel our potential was to be with Marc (Marquez) and Miguel (Oliveira). » 

Quartararo is aware that he had the possibility of doing better, of getting closer to the front, but on a stop'n'go type circuit like Motegi, the Yamaha is clearly not at its advantage against the competition. “I can’t overtake at all, I stay behind,” he laments. I regained time in sectors no. 2 and 3, but in no. 1 and 4 I lost too much. It's frustrating, because I could have gone faster. The sad thing is that I couldn't even attempt to overtake. At one point in turn 11 I was 10 meters away and wanted to try, but I can't brake any harder than I already do. »

🔁 Espargaro changes bikes at the start of the race#JapaneseGP ▶: https://t.co/Q9uXtTYtRy pic.twitter.com/c40EIfU5Qf

- CANAL + MotoGP ™ (@CanalplusMotoGP) September 25, 2022

With the bad luck of Aleix Espargaro, who had to change bikes before the start due to an electronic problem, and the blunder of Bagnaia, Quartararo still had a great operation. “I heard him fall,” Quartararo remembers. I knew he was coming back, but I was stuck behind Maverick and I couldn't overtake. If I had braked earlier, I think he would have passed me, but I braked, braked, braked... Even I was on the verge of falling, and he braked later than me, so if I was already at the limit, then him... I don't know how risky it was for him, but it was a little more risky than me. »

A bad choice of tire, but not only that… 

Beyond his difficulties with overtaking and having to push himself to the limit to make up for the shortcomings of his YZR-M1, Quartararo recognizes that two things penalized him at Motegi. “We made a mistake by changing one thing before the race, not the tires, which slowed our pace a little. We thought it wouldn't affect us much, but it did. The choice of tire was not the right one, but with so little driving in the dry, we could only try the soft, the medium, but not the hard, and that was a mistake. » 

And indeed, Jack Miller and Brad Binder, who finished on the podium, were among those to put on the hard tire at the last minute on the grid. We can also cite Miguel Oliveira or Luca Marini who finished ahead of Quartararo. 

Quartararo is now heading to Thailand for the next stop on the calendar. For his one and only time on the Buriram circuit in 2019 (his rookie year in MotoGP), the Frenchman led all laps of the race before being beaten in the last by Marc Marquez. “I felt good about this one and we didn’t do something grandiose,” smiles Quartararo. So let's hope that the next one feels bad and that it goes well! Buriram is one of my favorite circuits so I hope to have a good race there. »