RiderTua.com – The announcement of Yamaha’s contract extension with Fabio Quartararo for another 2 years was a surprise. Because from the start it was clear that the 2021 MotoGP world champion was not too knowledgeable about the M1’s performance, while Aprilia seemed enthusiastic about recruiting him even though Quartararo had to receive a much lower salary there.
The American GP at COTA Texas will be El Diablo’s first race after this important announcement. Where with the Yamaha factory team, the 24 year old rider recorded 8 MotoGP wins and climbed the podium 21 times.
Fabio Quartararo: I want to bring Yamaha back to being a winner
It could be said that GP Texas came at the right time. Fabio Quartararo recorded one of his best races of the 2023 season when he finished 3rd only 4 seconds behind the winner which was surprisingly won by Alex Rins (LCR Honda). And Rins, currently Quartararo’s teammate with the only in-line 4-cylinder engine on the track.
Even though Yamaha is relieved to have secured Quartararo’s contract, sadly they were unable to carry out the private concession test which was originally scheduled to be held at the Algarve Portimao circuit on Monday after the race due to rain.
Quartararo said, “We came to the US with a lot of work. Unfortunately, we couldn’t take advantage of the opportunity to take part in a private test in Portugal, so we now have to do some extra things at the weekend. I’m happy to have announced that I will stay with Yamaha.”
The rider from Nice-France continued that he thought this would help him and the team, because it had made their determination clear. Quartararo wants to bring Yamaha back to winning ways and the people at Yamaha are motivated to develop the bike for that. Now they can fully concentrate on the work of putting it all together.
For information, the COTA circuit in Austin has always been the best track for Quartararo. In 2015, as a 15 year old rider, he managed to finish in 2nd place. On his debut in MotoGP in 2021, El Diablo also successfully finished 2nd.
