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MotoGP, Quartararo replies to Puig: "The championship is always the same, with or without Marc on track"

"We know that one of the best riders in the world is not fighting with us on the track, but for me it will be the same. We all started in Jerez at 100%." Vinales: "We all started with zero points"

MotoGP: Quartararo replies to Puig: "The championship is always the same, with or without Marc on track"

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The press conference that began the weekend in Brno was an opportunity to listen to the riders who will have one less challenger on the track, namely Marc Marquez. Fabio Quartararo and Maverick Vinales are currently first and second respectively in the world championship and many observers are betting on them for the role of Marc's successor.

By missing at least four Grands Prix, with the real possibility that this number will increase to five, Marc Marquez will hardly be able to compete for a title that will be awarded in just 14 races. The big question is however if this will make the title of 2020 world champion less important, as the reigning champion is missing. Alberto Puig has repeatedly said his point of view on the matter, almost as if he wanted to stir up the pride of the other riders. Marc was fast at Jerez, but he also made two serious mistakes and the third was a perhaps hasty return. Fabio and Maverick on the other hand made no mistakes…

"We all started in Jerez at 100% - Quartararo said - this is a sport in which there are risks and everyone can be injured, here or in Austria. For me, the championship is always the same, with or without Marc on track. You can fight as much as you want, push as much as you want and we are working in exactly the same way, even without him. We know that one of the best riders in the world is not fighting with us on the track, but for me it will be the same ".

Quartararo is the man to beat right now, but he makes no mention of living this situation as a problem…

"I don't feel pressure for the championship. It is the third race and I am taking it race by race. I have never found myself in this type of situation in such a high-level championship, but I don't think it is right to think of the championship already at the third race. I don't feel pressure, for me it's all the same as before. I'm happy to be ahead in the standings and above all how we're working. I think we have the potential to always fight for the victories and the podiums and I don't want to focus on the championship, because I think it comes as a consequence ".

The Frenchman is also aware that he made the most of Jerez's excellent chance…

"Of course, Jerez was a bit more suited for us, for our bike. But the new M1 is better on all tracks. Here in Brno there are long straights, but also many parts where you have to ride. Our bike is going very well, even if we are missing a little power. I will keep the same mentality as Jerez and I know that tomorrow I will have to work hard to find the right race pace, as always the most important thing. "

Fabio won two consecutive races, but was unable to celebrate as he would have liked…

"After the victories you like to celebrate with friends, with your family. At least this is what happens normally. In this case it was strange, because I went home and there was nobody there, I couldn't meet almost anyone. I didn't even take the mask off to kiss my mother, I was also worried about what happened to Perez in F1. Honestly, this situation was a little stressful for me. It is as if the mask had prevented me from living this special moment all the way, but now I'm here and I'm totally focused on racing again. "

Quartararo is experiencing the best moment of his career, but he also remembered the worst…

"The worst moment I had in my career was in 2018 in Argentina. I was 28th in qualifying and I thought 'what the hell am I doing here?'. From that moment I totally changed the way I think, my approach. From that moment I started taking steps forward, between Jerez, Le Mans and Barcelona, ​​where I then won. That was one of the most important moments of my life, perhaps one of the worst, but it also allowed me to learn something for my future. I was worried, but it was good to feel that fear of not being able to make the jump and get to MotoGP ".

 

MAVERICK VINALES

Vinales: "Having Marquez here would have made the GPs more interesting because he always gives his best"

Maverick Vinales also commented at the conference on Marquez's absence, a defection that in no way de-legitimizes the 2020 world championship.

"Marc is a strong rider and hard to beat. But I don't think the fact that he’s not here makes things more interesting, quite the opposite. Maybe having him here would have made things even more interesting because he wants to beat everyone and always fights hard. As Fabio said, we all started with zero points at Jerez and in this sport, you are sometimes lucky, other times you are unlucky. This year it's like this, it's tough and you make a mistake. Nothing changes for me whether Marc is here or not, I want to be on the podium in every race. "

Vinales also allayed the concerns about the Yamaha engine, which remains a critical point to work on to avoid the problems both Rossi and Morbidelli ran into in the first two rounds of 2020.

"We are confident, we are calm and we know the potential of our bike. We simply have to work to make it perform at its best, managing to be as fast here as we were in Jerez. I'm not worried about reliability, really. Maybe we have some small problems with top speed, but we already knew that. Nobody in the team is worried, so we’ll stay focused."

 

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