Yamaha factory driver Fabio Quartararo went to the limit in qualifying in Aragón, but starting position 6 was the “maximum of the maximum”. The world champion sees only one solution for the MotoGP race.
Fabio Quartararo had already feared in advance that he would have trouble against Ducati and Co. on the Yamaha M1 at MotorLand Aragón. A violent moment of shock in curve 2 in Q2 showed how much the world championship leader has to go to the limit. In his last attempt, “El Diablo” at least made it into the second row of the grid, but his body language spoke volumes.
“Of course I’m not happy, but I gave my best,” said the 23-year-old Frenchman, summing up his qualifying day. “I made that one mistake, but I don’t think I could have improved my grid position, only the lap time. I lost control of the front wheel in turn 2. The bike was pretty straight at the moment, I don’t know why that happened. I set my lap time on the second lap. But that doesn’t change much, I wouldn’t have driven half a second faster.”
© Gold & Goose
Welcome back to Aragon, Francesco Bagnaia
© Gold & Goose
Jack Miller
© Gold & Goose
Enea Bastianini
© Gold & Goose
Aleix Espargaró
© Gold & Goose
Marc Márquez
© Gold & Goose
The days of Pedrosa
© Gold & Goose
fabio quartararo
© Gold & Goose
Marc Márquez
© Gold & Goose
Pol Espargaro
© Gold & Goose
Jack Miller
© Gold & Goose
fabio quartararo
© Gold & Goose
Alex Rins
© Gold & Goose
Enea Bastianini & Jack Miller
© Gold & Goose
johann zarco
© Gold & Goose
Takaaki Nakagami
© Gold & Goose
Cal Crutchlow
© Gold & Goose
Enea Bastianini & Marc Marquez
© Gold & Goose
Remy Gardner
© Gold & Goose
Jack Miller
© Gold & Goose
Marc Márquez
© Gold & Goose
Brad Binder
© Gold & Goose
Fabio di Giannantonio
© Gold & Goose
Marc Márquez
© Gold & Goose
Francesco Bagnaia
© Gold & Goose
johann zarco
© Gold & Goose
Francesco Bagnaia
© Gold & Goose
Marco Bezzecchi
© Gold & Goose
Franco Morbidelli
© Gold & Goose
Francesco Bagnaia, Jack Miller & Enea Bastianini
That leaves the defending champion with only hope for a perfect start and perfect first laps – and then? “After that we’ll see,” said Quartararo. “It’s a shame because I’m super happy with my pace. I feel so good, I feel like we have the pace to fight for the win. But it’s always been the same since the start of the season: In terms of pace, I can be three tenths faster than the others, but I’ll still be behind in the race. That’s the problem. Qualifying is super important and P6 was the maximum of the maximum. But I think we can do something great tomorrow.”
Is the ten-time MotoGP winner proud of his performance when he always gets the maximum out of difficult conditions? “Well, when you do it for the first time, it feels good. But then comes the moment when you look at the partial times of the first run, drive a red third sector – and then cross the finish line on P6 at the end because you are four tenths short. You can be proud, but I have a lot of things in my head – and a lot of bad words,” added Fabio with a short grin. Then he became serious again: “I’m starting to get used to it. But we know where the four tenths are – at least four tenths.”
With regard to the 23-lap race, Quartararo also knows: «My biggest rival will be the air pressure in the front tire because we will be riding behind some bikes. That’s the problem because we have to push so hard on the brakes. We have to see that the tire pressure does not increase too much.”
The world champion added: “I will have to overtake aggressively. If I have to put up with a contact, I have to do it. That will be the only solution for this race. I think Pecco and Enea also have very strong pace. Hopefully I can keep up with them.”
Incidentally, the Yamaha factory rider stayed with the new chassis from the Misano test. “We’ll see if it’s actually better. But we will use it at least for this race, »confirmed Quartararo on Saturday in Aragón. But he doesn’t feel a big difference. “It’s hard to say, maybe the turning is a bit better in the slow corners, but we don’t have a lot of that here, just turn 7. At Misano the chassis felt a bit better though.”
MotoGP result Q2, Aragón (September 17th):
1. Bagnaia, Ducati, 1:46.069 min
2. Miller, Ducati, 1:46,159 min, + 0,090 sec
3. Bastianini, Ducati, 1: 46,313, + 0.244
4. Aleix Espargaró, Aprilia, 1:46.590, + 0.521
5. Zarco, Ducati, 1: 46.646, + 0.577
6. Quartararo, Yamaha, 1:46,802, + 0,733
7. Bezzecchi, Ducati, 1:46.852, +0.783
8. Martin, Ducati, 1:46.911, +0.842
9. Rins, Suzuki, 1:46,912, + 0,843
10. Brad Binder, KTM, 1:46,924, + 0,855
11. Oliveira, KTM, 1:47.183, + 1.114
12. Nakagami, Honda, 1:47,274, +1.205
The rest of the starting lineup:
13. Marc Marquez, Honda, 1:46.909
14. Marini, Ducati, 1:47.056
15. Di Giannantonio, Ducati, 1: 47.119
16. Viñales, Aprilia, 1: 47.337
17. Alex Marquez, Honda, 1:47.489
18. Pol Espargaro, Honda, 1:47.511
19. Crutchlow, Yamaha, 1:47,541
20. Morbidelli, Yamaha, 1:47,651
21. Fernández, KTM, 1:47.671
22. Gardner, KTM, 1:47,847
23. Darryn Binder, Yamaha, 1:49,309
