MotoGP Le Mans: Fabio Quartararo: “My toughest time at Yamaha” - “no base, no speed", test items "useless”

Fabio Quartararo offered a grim assessment of his factory Yamaha after again being left outside the top ten, during the opening day of his home French MotoGP at Le Mans.
Fabio Quartararo, MotoGP, French MotoGP, 12 May
Fabio Quartararo, MotoGP, French MotoGP, 12 May

Theꦇ former world champion was only 11th and 12th in the pair of practice sessions, meaning he will need to fight his way through Qualifying 1 just to reach Saturday’s pole position shootout.

Quartararo, who saved several feet-off moments, explained that his M1 again feels “super aggressive” at Le Mans, and seems to have lost itsꦺ prev♒ious turning prowess.

“It’s like I have no feeling on the bike. ꦓIt's like the bike is super aggressive [and] not turning like usual,” Quartararo said. “We are losing all our [previous] strong points. Even if we had less p☂ower [in the past], we had other strong points."

The Frenchman appears increasingly concerned that the quest to provide some much-needed engine performance for the 2023 engine, which he🥂 has previously warned is still not enough to run the same downforce levels as their rivals, has come at a high price.

“🎃It looks like we got some more power but we lose much more in riding," he said. “I never had a bike this aggressive, and no turning.

“Maybe the character of the engine makes the bike super aggressive. We have more power but it's making the bike super aggressive in a n🙈ew way.

“Normally I'm a rider who can say quite easily where I'm missing something, but right now t🧸he bike is so aggressive and moving so much that I don't know what to say.

“I’m coming out of the corner and the bike is shaking until the end [of the st༺raight]. It's moving everywhere.”

Leading the world championship at this stage last season, Quarta𒀰raro is🐠 currently just eleventh in the standings and already 47 points behind Francesco Bagnaia.

Insisting he will not geꩲt “angry” over the present situation, Quartararo, a Yamaha rider since joining MotoGP in 2019, admitted:

“I think [we’re] in the toughest time I've been in at Yamaha right now, because we cannot find a solution a𒁃fter 8 races, because the sprints for me are races.

“And we have not any base𓆏, and any speed, I woul💜d say.”

'The new things that we tried were useless'

The #20 also gave a damning verdict on the new parts provid🐟ed by Yamaha at the💮 recent Jerez test.

“We tried an exhaust, which was not workingꦬ. Chassis is not w💮orking. Aero is not working. Electronics is not working. Maybe one setting that we tried with Öhlins was a little bit better.

🦂“But from the test, the new things that we tried were useless.”

Team-mate Franco Morbidelli was 16th quickest.

Peter has been in the paddock for 20 years and has seen Valenti𓆏no Rossi come and go. He is at the forefront of t♒he Suzuki exit story and Marc Marquez’s injury issues.

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