Fabio Quartararo failed at the gates of Q2 by 15 thousandths of a second at the end of the practice session at Phillip Island, but the Frenchman is aiming for a place on one of the first three rows on Saturday.
The day: “We had a problem with the bike. I had to get into the box, get out, get back in… I had a clutch problem, so I lost a lot of driving time. Here, you have to complete a lot of laps to find the limit. Unfortunately, we finished close to Q2. I feel pretty good. We made progress in the last sector and we have to make a big step in the last corner. »
Dribbling problem? “It was clutch. That’s why we tried a new medium, it was jumping, we went back to the box, we thought it was the tire, we changed to the soft, it did the same thing. That’s when we decided to change bikes. It was a bike we had never tested. It was pretty good, we missed a lot of laps to really be 100%. »
Q2 on Saturday? “Tomorrow we’ll see if it doesn’t rain. I hope we will have a little more grip on the tarmac. This can help us. And I think we have the possibility of going to Q2. »
The motorbike: “It works quite well, I wouldn’t say exactly, but we are a little better than in Japan. I think we have to adjust a lot of little things, but I feel better than I did two weeks ago. I hope we can have a good qualifying tomorrow. »
A third line in sight? “For me, a third row is playable… That being said, there is Acosta, Miller, Johann (Zarco)… We know that in Q1, it’s always a bit of a mess, so we don’t really know what we’re up to. to wait for. I know I felt pretty good today. We didn’t do many tours unfortunately. But I think we were pretty good today. »
