Fabio Quartararo: ‘Overtaking Marc means a lot, I haven’t lost it’

Fabio Quartararo broke the gloom surrounding Yamaha’s new V4 machine and gave a reminder of his own talent by overtaking reigning MotoGP champion Marc Marquez on the opening lap of the Brazilian Sprint.

The Monster Yamaha rider knew he had little chance of keeping second position, but admitted, “It's always good to see these riders around you.

“To be honest, I didn't care where I would finish, just to overtake Marc, who is the reference now and when I was younger, means a lot to me because I feel I don't lose it.

“I know my potential on the bike and even if he was overtaking me on the next corner, I don't care, but at least I know where I am.”

That brief battle may have been the highlight of Quartararo’s day, but he had already excelled by claiming fourth on the grid in qualifying.

“To be honest this morning I was quite impressed, not really with the lap time but especially with the position that we finished,” he told MotoGP.com.

“Then in the Sprint, I managed to get a great start. We were struggling all weekend, also in Thailand, with the starts, but I managed to get a great one today.”

That paved the way for some combative opening laps before Marquez, Marco Bezzecchi, Jorge Martin, Ai Ogura worked their way past. 

Nonetheless, sixth place (+7.7s) was a major improvement on Quartararo's 16th place (+15.1s) in the season-opening Thai Sprint.

“I enjoyed it a lot, especially the first part of the race,” Quartararo added. “We know that later we were using a bit too much the tyre, we know in the top speed we are struggling and many other areas.

“But I think it was a positive day for us.”

The former world champion, who is expected to join Honda next season, hopes that Yamaha will also take inspiration from the result and speed up development of the V4.

“I hope it will give them even more motivation to find something because we know, and I know as a rider my potential, I know where I can be, and if Yamaha works really well, I think that we can make good steps,” he said.

“I don't know what position [is possible] because I pushed exactly the same in Thailand, and we finished 14th [in the GP]. Today sixth. So it will be a lot of up and downs I think, but at least we give our maximum.”

Team-mate Alex Rins was the next best Yamaha rider, in 13th place and 15 seconds behind eventual race winner Marquez.

Pramac riders Toprak Razgatlioglu and Jack Miller were at the back of the field in 18th and 19th, after picking the medium rear tyre.