English
Italiano
In the light of the difficulties encountered last season, Fabio Quartararo was not sure he could exploit the M1's full potential at the Jerez track. Instead, the French rider managed to set a surprising fifth quickest time in this afternoon's pre-qualifying session. Despite running into a crash, fortunately without any consequences, about 14 minutes from the end of the session, while he had three red helmets on the timesheets. A result so unexpected that even El Diablo himself is unable to understand how it was possible.
"It would have been frustrating if we hadn't reached Q2, because to be honest my main goal right now is to be in the top 10 on Friday. Better still to be higher, but my goal is to be in the Top 10, which is difficult because everything is very tight on this track," he commented at the end of the day. "I'm quite happy. The pace was good and it was a positive day, although the crash was unfortunate."
The French rider confirmed that he had a lot of confidence in his Yamaha on this first day of action.
"I have confidence,especially in the front. In my opinion, we have to find the balance between the front and the rear, because braking too hard we use the rear tire too much in acceleration. The sensations that the front of our bike gives are incredible, but if you push too hard you get to the limit like at the last corner," remarked Fabio, who still had the best feelings on the bike in this early part of the season.
"Especially in terms of pace, but I think the tires here are very consistent and that's the reason why I can stay consistent with the times while pushing 100% on every lap - he pointed out - If I had done the same in Qatar, after three laps I would have destroyed the tires. That's also why the gap is much wider at circuits where the tires have a bigger drop."
With a good qualifying run Quartararo might have a good chance of achieving some good placings in the two races this weekend, but he did not hide the fact that he has other things on his mind right now.
"We'll see, because on Sunday we don't know why but we always have little grip. Honestly, right now I'm not looking too much at the position, I want to understand why we were fast today. I know I have good sensations, but there is no reason why we were able to be fast on a track like Jerez, where the grip is not fantastic - he admitted - After the crash, we stopped only two tenths from Marc Marquez. It is not logical and we have to understand why sometimes, especially on Sunday, we are slower."
In the Yamaha box there will be some data to study, especially at the end of the weekend.
"Tomorrow morning we know we will go faster because the temperatures will be lower. But it's especially on Sunday, after the Moto2 race, when the grip is lower, that the difference between us and the others gets bigger. One positive side is that the engine is not a big problem here because you can't overtake, but we will have to see what the grip will be like the day after tomorrow," the 26-year-old concluded.
