Quartararo still has more under his belt 

fabio quartararo knows it, he has no other choice than to finish ahead of Francesco Bagnaia and Aleix Espargaro this weekend to put all the chances on his side in the fight for his own succession to the throne. 

This Friday at Phillip Island, the Frenchman fulfilled his mission perfectly. If he finished 12^e of FP1, he clearly made up for it in the afternoon to finish in fourth position, just over a tenth of the benchmark established by Johann Zarco. “It’s good,” he says. FP1 was tricky and I was able to maintain a pretty good pace in these conditions. FP2 was better, I made a mistake on my fast lap, so I'm happy to be in the top five. I think we have things to try on Saturday to improve our feeling, I feel we have some room. We saw that Rins tested the hard tire and it seems to be working, so let's see how it goes for us. »

Quartararo assures that he can gain a few more tenths in certain places on the circuit: “I have to progress in sector 1 (…). I have some margin in the corners, which can save me a tenth there, another here… It can make a big change. This is one of the first days where I feel like we need to make adjustments. The Friday moto is usually the same all weekend, but on a different track from the others, we have made some changes and more are to come. »

A circuit to overtake 

In addition to having room for improvement, the Nice native confides that Phillip Island could well help him during the race, unlike Buriram or Motegi where it was practically impossible for him to make the difference. “We are all going to try the hard tire on Saturday, because it seems that the soft is very soft,” he said. I feel our pace is good and there are places to overtake, so it should be a good circuit. »