Fabio Quartararo is going through a very complicated moment in MotoGP and the truth is that the Portuguese GP, to be held at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve, has worked as a «base» to attest to Yamaha’s level in MotoGP.
When analyzing the Frenchman’s history on the Portuguese circuit, which got again on the calendar in 2020 – the year in which #20 was in his second year in the category – it is quickly possible to see that the rider didn’t have an easy life, finishing in 14th place, in a race that was dominated by Miguel Oliveira.
The following year the story was different: Quartararo won and then achieved his second victory of the year, with the Portuguese GP being the third round of the championship, and from then on more successes followed, culminating in the Yamaha rider taking win the world title.
In 2022 Portimão hosted the MotoGP again and with Quartararo winning the race in Portugal, with this then being the fifth round of the world championship and the first that ended with the Frenchman as the winner, in a particularly complicated year for the #20, as he led the championship by more than 90 points over Pecco Bagnaia, who ended up as world champion. Quartararo was second and from that year onwards the more severe difficulties began.
Last year and with the introduction of the Sprint, Quartararo was 10th and, the following day in the long race, he was 8th.
And in 2024, what can we expect? If last year was the first year in which Yamaha was effectively at a less competitive pace and very behind compared to the European manufacturers, this will be a year in which the expectation is that the chances of there being an uncompetitive result are high, but what can a two-time winner in Portugal do in MotoGP this year?
The question remains in the air, but for Quartararo it will be an opportunity to move up in the classification, as he himself admitted in the preview of the race in Portimão.