Seventh in the Sprint Race and seventh at the end of the GP Fabio Quartararo ended his second weekend at Misano with the regret that he could not have done more. On Sunday afternoon he could have easily crossed the finish line fifth had not the most annoying hiccup occurred.
"I had no more fuel," he admitted, speaking to the press, "It's too bad because I had a one-second lead over Morbidelli, there was only one straight left to go. These things can happen, however I am heartened by the knowledge that we had a very fast top 5 pace. KTM normally does well here, so we can only be happy. Usually we look at the second group certainly not at Bagnaia, Bastianini and Martin who are in another category and this position makes it clear that we are closer."
After so many difficulties a reason to smile for Yamaha. "Also thanks to some good starts , this is already the third round where we finish in the points in the Sprint, while last year we never managed it. Hopefully we can continue like this in Asia at the toughest round of the season ," the Frenchman continued, "Is this our best result since 2022? No, not exactly because in 2023 in Indonesia I finished the GP less than half a second behind the winner. I hope I can repeat that result in this edition. I also expect a good performance in Japan and Malaysia, for the rest I don't know."
Asked about the incident between Enea and Jorge in the heat of the race that led to so much discussion, the 2021 MotoGP champion replied laconically, "It was a normal overtaking move." Finally, when asked if today's outcome was encouraging, he responded by dialling things down a bit: "I don't know since there are some GP23s ahead of us. Let's say that some riders are stronger than others."