Marc Sinkewitz
Motorcycle department
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Two weeks ago the MotoGP world saw… Fabio Quartararo and Yamaha in Jerez are still very bleak. In qualifying in Andalusia, the 2021 world champion did not get past 23rd starting position. At his home game in Le Mans, the fan favorite counterattacked and caused a positive surprise in training at the French Grand Prix.
Fabio Quartararo: Good lap time, but still not feeling comfortable with the bike
In the crucial practice session for qualifying, things got hot again at the Bugatti Circuit in Le Mans: the top ten were separated from each other by just four tenths of a second. The leader Jorge Martin was only a little more than a second away from 20th place. Nevertheless, Fabio Quartararo was able to give his fans a reason to celebrate. In tenth place he narrowly secured direct entry into the second qualifying, so in the worst case scenario he will start the race from twelfth place. A significant improvement compared to the Spanish GP 14 days ago.
“It’s a nice feeling,” Quartararo told Motogp.com on Friday evening. “Especially because we only lost two tenths of a second to third place. The lap time was really good, but to be honest the feeling on the bike wasn’t quite there yet. If everything fits, we can be a little closer to our opponents. I hope that we can do it tomorrow.”
Fabio Quartararo: New Yamaha chassis is no progress
In particular, the new Yamaha parts will be tested even more closely on Saturday, as Quartararo revealed. He and teammate Alex Rins tested a new chassis at the Jerez test, which will now also be used at Le Mans. However, ‘El Diablo’ does not yet see any clear progress. “We tried out the new chassis in the first training session, but I wasn’t sure about it. It felt worse than the standard version,” said Quartararo. “For the second training session we switched back to the old one. Tomorrow we will test a few other parts that will hopefully work,” announced the 25-year-old.
Another sprint podium (which was subsequently taken away from him in Jerez) is probably not to be expected from Quartararo and his M1, but given the close gap between the MotoGP pilots, Yamaha fans can have hope of a starting position in the first three rows of the grid. In any case, Quartararo will not lack support from the French fans on site. For the fifth race of the season, he will be using a special design. The helmet, boots and gloves shine in a mix of pink and blue. “It’s a nice story. I want to celebrate the race and the contract extension with Yamaha and the fans. Something funny was needed for that,” he explained the choice of design.
© Motorsport Magazine