RiderTua.com – Fabio Quartararo feels a little better in the Portuguese race.. But still far from fighting for the title.. However, the good news is that Yamaha feels a glimmer of hope in the Portuguese MotoGP. For the first time since Malaysia in 2022, the two factory drivers immediately qualified for Q2. This is the basis for two top 10 results in Portimao, especially for former world champion Fabio Quartararo.
In the sprint, the French rider collected championship points in ninth position. What is important is that most of the riders entered Saturday’s short race on hard front and soft rear tyres, while Quartararo used medium front and rear tyres.
“I didn’t feel comfortable with the soft rear tire, it also degraded a lot. That’s why I accepted that I would have a little problem in the first two laps and then increase the speed,” he said of the decision.
Fabio Quartararo feels a little bit good in the race
“It was a better race. I don’t know how many sprints I finished less than eight seconds before the winner. I expected the race to be like that. It was quite good. I was behind Aleix Espargaro. He rode in a really good way. “It’s really different. That’s good information,” he said.
For his teammate Alex Rins, his sprint race ended early after a crash at Turn 3. “We looked at the data. I didn’t do anything strange… I didn’t brake too late and went through the same line,” said the Spaniard angrily.
Rins continued, “We have to analyze it because we don’t understand it. Of course it’s a shame that my sprint stopped on the second lap,” he said. In the main race, Rins crossed the finish line in 13th position and collected World Championship points.
Meanwhile Quartararo is in tenth position. He also benefited from several riders DNFing ahead of him and ultimately crossed the finish line in seventh place. “After the sprint, I estimate the gap with the leaders will be smaller,” he said, who was 20 seconds behind.
However, in the drivers’ standings, Quartararo doesn’t expect anything more. In the manufacturers’ standings, Yamaha has 15 points after two weekend races. Honda has eight points.
