Fabio Quartararo: Prospective Yamaha Satellite Team Must Be Treated Like a Factory Team

RiderTua.com – When talking about the Jerez circuit, Fabio Quartararo recalled his past success. In the last 4 years, the Yamaha rider has managed to climb the podium 3 times. What stands out most is his double victory in 2020. However, due to problems with the M1, the 2021 MotoGP World Champion only finished in 12th (sprint) and 10th (main race) last year.

Quartararo said that when he remembered last year, he didn’t know what to say. But if Yamaha ignores 2023, that is a very good way for them (to focus on 2024), said the 25 year old rider.

Fabio Quartararo: Prospective Yamaha Satellite Team Must Be Treated Like a Factory Team

This year, Fabio Quartararo emphasized several times that his focus was not on the race results but on the M1 work tests which were still not competitive. Yamaha took important data from the first race which they will analyze. According to Quartararo this will be similar to the Austin GP. Yamaha will test a lot of things and try to eliminate their weaknesses. However, Quartararo and the team must concentrate on Friday afternoon’s session and try to immediately enter Q2 (qualifying), said the rider from Nice, France.

Ahead of the Jerez test on Monday, Quartararo added that they would also prepare for a test at the weekend. Because on Monday’s test they had some new parts to test. They can’t waste any time and will try many elements on the race weekend. Of course El Diablo didn’t have a weekend like a test. But on the other hand, he had nothing to lose.

Despite his somewhat conservative approach, Quartararo praised the progress Yamaha has made since the start of the season. Since the Austin GP, Yamaha and Quartararo have been tinkering a lot with the set-up. This has really helped them find out the biggest weaknesses of their motorbike package. The team just needs to find out which settings make the motorbike work optimally. “Because to be honest, Yamaha hasn’t changed much in the last 3 years,” said the 25 year old racer.

Rumors are that the Pramac Ducati team will move to Yamaha starting in 2025. Quartararo welcomed this and emphasized the need for a satellite team. “Satellite teams will be very important. In pre-season alone, it will give us more laps (data) and information. But I would ask to go a step further and say that teams need to be treated like factory teams. They need factory bikes and factory support. Because “That’s also important for racers,” concluded Fabio Quartararo.