Fabio Quartararo says he wouldn’t have been able to sleep until the next MotoGP round in Japan if he didn’t gamble with a last corner overtakeᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚ on Marc Marquez.

After leading every lap of the Thailand MotoGP from pole position with Marquez stalking him the pair had a 𓃲last-lap duel for victory at the Chang International Circuit.

The Repsol ജHonda rider made his initial move at the Turn 3 hairpin after bolting ahead on the long straight but with Quartararo faster through the final two sectors of the track it set up a showdown at the final corner.

The Petronas Yamaha rider dive🌺d up the inside under braking but couldn’t stop his YZR-M1 close enough to the corner apex to block Marquez from charging inside and spr꧂inting to victory.

The race mirrored the pair’s race-long victory scrap at Misano earlier this season which ended in the s🔯ame result, but the Thailand race gave the MotoGP rookie moreꦺ frustration at missing out on a maiden win.

“At Misano at the end I didn’t try anything in the last corner. Here we tried something,” Quartararo said. “I overtook him but I didn’t really know if he could enter the corner and then close, but I saw his wheel and🧔 I was really frustrated.

“I was close to the chequered flag so really frustrated but really happy about fighting with Marc because we know that this year apart from Austin he is always on that podium and I think for many year🔥s he is the reference of MotoGP.

“Honestly in this moment 🐬my brain was off. I said I will try because if not and I didn’t try a move I would go home and I wouldn’t sleep until Japan so I tried.

“We knew that at Turn 12 it is not gravel on the exit so I tri🎃ed and if not I would go wi🍸de.”

Despite his frustrations, Quartararo tried to ta🎃ke the positives from the race fighting the new eight-time wo🍸rld champion in his rookie MotoGP campaign.

“Mixed emotions of course but ꦉwe caܫn be proud of what we did today because we were challenging the eight-time world champion in the last corner of the last lap,” he said.

“We can only be h🤪appy with what we achieved today with the team and we are going step by step but this one was really close. We were first at the last corner and I tried to stop the bike but it was not possible.

“So I am really looking forward t♛o the next race already to work and to try to challenge this guy again.”

Quartararo has strengthened his grip on t๊he top Independents’ title by extending his advantage to 24 points over nearest rival ꦫPramac Ducati’s Jack Miller.

The French ridཧer has also moved to within two points of factory Yamaha rider Valentino Rossi in the overall standings.