Fabio Quartararo at Spanish MotoGP: “What went wrong? Everything. Every year we lose strong points”
He won consecutive grands prix at Jerez in back-to-back wee🧸kends in 2020, and fought at the front in 2021 and 2022 too.
But he was merely 16th-fastest in Friday practice. Quartararo was eighth tenths behind Aleix Espargaro, who was f🃏astest, and was left bemoaning his chances.
The 2021 Moto꧑GP champion said: “Difficult to say what wa✱s wrong. But, I mean, everything!
“Every time I was going into a corne🏅r, I didn’t know if I was going to finish 𓃲it.
“In the last lap I was improving, but feeling on the limit. But the last lap I did okay. Whatever happened, happened. And at Turn 7 I lost the front and went 🐷wide.
“The problem is that we don’t know why we are that slow. And, the bike is super aggr🙈essive, we are missing turning. 🦩So it’s difficult.
“To be honest, every year we are losin▨g our strong points from the past.
“I’d say🐟 the turning and cornerꦑ speed we had four years ago was better, more stability. That’s what we lose.
“And actually here the top speed is not so bad because you come from a fast corner so you don’t have so mu🌊ch wheelie and it helps.
“But it’s not only that, the problem ꦚis many, many other things and this is one of them. The corner speed we are carrying is not good and the bike is super aggressive.
“Not because we are going so fast and it is aggressive but♛ we are not going so fast and we are shaking a lot.
“In the morning I think we were 𝔍a little bit better. But let’s say𝓡 we will have to figure it out [overnight] why we are struggling that much, where we lose because we still didn’t have time to really check right now.
“So [Friday night] we’re 🌌going to check exactly where we lose and hopefully we will find a soꦦlution.
“And even my riding style, for sure. I can modify man﷽y things at least to try to be better.
“It is bad to say this, butꦓ even on the pace we are not good.
“If the pace was ꧟good and time attack was bad, you can still manage.
“The pace is bad because with a new tyre I was slower than many guys. So a�🍷�t the moment today it is impossible to make the kind of race like last year.”
James was a sports jo🍸urnalist at Sky Sports for a decade covering everything from♛ American sports, to football, to F1.
