Fabio Quartararo managed to return to the podium in MotoGP, securing third place at yesterday’s Indian GP. The Monster Energy Yamaha rider was in a battle with Jorge Martín (Prima Pramac/Ducati) for the second position until the end, and on the last lap, he even was in front of his rival… although he couldn’t hold him off.
The 2021 champion said in the press conference that in the final lap fight he could see the weak point in Yamaha’s performance: ‘It was really difficult, to be honest – especially the last lap. During the race I always had one second, one second and a half, two seconds gap to the front guys – Pecco and Jorge, because Marco was already very far away. But in the last lap I could really see where our weak point was. We have to work on that part and hopefully we can make a step next year, because it’s one thing we cannot really fight with them – we can hold the pace, but we cannot really fight’.
Regarding the battle with Martín on the final lap, Quartararo said: ‘The drive I had out of the turn five was super bad. I was spinning like hell; I was trying to control on the gas, but unfortunately I had nothing more on the tyre and with less grip and the power I couldn’t give a fight. Also going into the ten I had no confidence to lean fast. But I can be happy because Marco was really on another level, we knew it before the start. Jorge won the sprint race and at least we are getting a little bit closer. So, I think we can be pretty happy’.