During the first day of the TT Assen MotoGP in the Netherlands, Fabio Quartararo somewhat experienced the same fate as Marc Marquez, close to leader Francesco Bagnaia in the morning, less so in the afternoon.
Indeed, by switching to a soft rear tyre at the end of FP1, the Yamaha rider managed to finish 4th, less than two tenths behind the weekend favourite who was working with a medium at the rear. But in the afternoon, when everyone had the usual fitment for practice, the best time dropped by more than a second, forcing the Frenchman to concede 7 tenths, or 42 thousandths too many to go straight into Q2.
Annoying, a little, certainly, but The devil still had two reasons to be satisfied today; the use of a first engine evolution tested in Valencia (with a return to the short exhaust. Another will follow in Japan), and theYamaha-Pramac agreement to be formalized from 2025.
As usualwe report here his words without the slightest formatting, this time expressed in French.
Fabio Quartararo : “This is a sector where we feel that we have improved, we see that we are top 3 in the best sector 1, but after that, the sectors where we really have to go quickly in the turns and have Flow, We’re really not good there, unfortunately. So we will try to find a solution quickly. Compared even to last year, we lose a lot of time with ourselves, so that’s where we have to find the solution, and I think that with the engine that we tested in Valencia, it was already a little bit better. »
That’s the engine, which you said you wouldn’t have before Japan? Finally, is this the one you were able to get today?
“No, no, the engine that we really liked in Valencia, we had two, one we have here, but the best version we won’t have before Japan.”
The announcement has just been made by Pramac and Yamaha, so it’s official. Can you comment on it? Are you happy to know that next year you will have a satellite team to help develop the machine?
” Of course ! It’s been about 3 months since I insisted with Paolo that he take these motorcycles. We have had many conversations, of course many more with Yamaha, but in any case I think that having a
such a strong team and with so much experience as a team, let’s say satellite, I think it’s very important, and I think that for the development of the bike, it will be a huge help.
Do you have a preference for the drivers who will be in the team?
“I’m not going to get into this, not in public anyway, but I think Yamaha and the Pramac team know very well what they have to do.”
What needs to change on the bike?
“Simply agility, turning, It’s the same thing. The bike stops very well at the moment but what we lack is agility and turning, especially in the changes of direction here, where it’s at high speed, and we’re much too slow. We still lack a lot of things.”
Do you think you can get to Q2?
“We have to watch, at the moment, yes. But we know very well that in Q1, each time we look at times, even often the first 2 of Q1, these are times that can make the top 5, top 6, in Q2. So we will try to get through.”
At the end, did the yellow flags bother you?
“I got a yellow flag. I had two yellow flags, but one where I didn’t understand, because there was no one there. And I was on one of my best laps, so maybe we could have passed. But hey, it’s still really, really, really, really, really close.”
MotoGP Practice Rankings for the 2024 Dutch Grand Prix at Assen:
Classification credit: MotoGP.com
Quartararo TT Assen
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