Fabio Quartararo was very close to his first MotoGP podium of the season in a Sprint race. This Saturday he even crossed the finish line in third place at Jerez, but was penalized eight seconds due to irregular tire pressure and dropped to fifth.
Regarding the fact that he managed to move up ten positions in the first lap, the Monster Energy Yamaha rider explained: ‘Especially the first two corners, because in the first braking I braked very late, in the second corner I braked very late. I think I have marks on my suit, but I believe that’s how we have to fight. I think everything was done with respect and I had a lot of fun, especially in the first three laps‘.
Despite the result and performance, Quartararo ensured that he did not have any different motivation or approach: ‘To be honest I did the same. Of course, the start was very good, the reaction time was great, but for me I didn’t do anything different. Sometimes you have a great start, sometimes you don’t know why, but today I had a good reaction time and two good first laps‘.
After a difficult Friday, El Diablo had different parameters on his Yamaha YZR-M1: ‘We started with a different bike. It wasn’t something totally different, but I think it was working well. We will see the data today and hopefully tomorrow we can try something else,’ he said.