Fabio Quartararo in ‘peak condition’, but can he halt Bagnaia at Misano MotoGP?
Quartararo rebuilt his world championship lead to 32 points over Aprilia🃏’s Espargaro with a brilliant second place, amidst tꦚhe Ducatis, in Austria.
But while Bagnaia is still 44 points ဣadrift of Quartararo, he has cut 47 points from t🌌he Yamaha star’s lead over the last three events.
Quartararo also 💙hasn’t beaten the Italian in races they have both finished, since t🦩he Portuguese round in April.
With seven rounds and 175 points s☂till to go, Quartararo needs to halt Bagnaia’s advance sooner rather than later if he is to keep the Italian at arm’s length.
On paper, both head into this weekend’s Misano round with two podiums from their las𓆉t five ra🧜ces at the track.
But the freshest mem✱ories favour Quartararo, who won his first MotoGP title when Bagnaia fell from theꦡ lead in last October’s Emilia Romagna round.
“The race in Austria was really tough but rewarding. That second place was grea൲t for the championship because we left one of our more challenging circuits with an extended lead [over Espargar꧂o],” Quartararo said.
“I’m happy we are riding in Misano thi𓂃s weekend. Of course, 🌊I have still strong memories of winning the title here last year, but we have to focus on this year‘s championship.
“We are starting the finaꦍl third of the season now, which is al🅺ways tough, so we need to focus and work hard.
“I’ve been training pretty much non-stop to assure that I‘m in peak condition🅺. I know that my team are also working as hard as they can, so ﷽I think we can get a good result again.”
Team director Massimo Meregalli added that there will be less pressure on their shoulders comp🍨ared to last year.
“This time we arrive here with a lot less pressure on our shoulders than during the 2021 Emilia-Romagna GP when the title was in reach,” he said. “The battle at the top of the leader board is very close, like last year, but we can have a more regular GP weekend this time, so that‘s wh𓆉at we ar𝓡e looking forward to.
“Fabio enjoys riding here, and so does Franky. This track has been significant to both of their careers in the past, a🎉nd we all feel highly motivated to do a good job again this weekend. We just hope that the riding conditions remain dry or at least consistent throughoutไ these three days.”
Morbidelli: Keep tweaking, keep improving
Team-mate Franco Morbidelli is the next best Yamaha rider after Quartararo, b🧜ut just 19th in the world championship.
The Italian returns to the scene of his grand prix debut (2013) and first MotoGP🎃 victory (2020) still without a dry top-ten finish this season, but is confiden꧂t he is getting gradually closer.
“After the improved speed on the bike in Spielberg, I'm really looking forward to keeping on working in that🀅 direction, keep tweaking, and keep improving this week and throughout next week [at the test],” he said.
“The San Marino GP is my home race, and also that of the team in a way, so that adds an extra nice feeling🧜 to the event. I like Misano a lot, it‘s a nice track, and I look forward to completing a lot of laps here this race weekend and also during the Misano Test.”
Peter has been in the pa🅷ddock for 20 years and has seen Valentino Rossi come and go. He is at the forefront of the Suzuki exit story and Marc Marquez’𝔉s injury issues.
