Valencia: Quartararo better pace but ‘not close to Marquez, Vinales’
While a sixth pole posꦿition of his rookie MotoGP campaign comes as a welcomed bonus, Fabio Quartararo’s main focus remains finding stronger race pace having felt unable to catch up with Marc Marquez and Maverick Vinales ahead of the Valencia Grand Prix.
Quartararo has matched Christian Sarron’s premier class record as the French rider with the most pole positions by taking his sixth and the final pole of the 2019 MotoGP season beating Marquez bﷺy 0.032s.

While a sixth pole position of his rookie MotoGP campaign comes as&🦩nbsp;a welcomed bonus, Fabio Quartararo’s main focus remains finding stronger race pace having felt unable to catch up with Marc Marquez and Maverick Vinales ahead of the Valencia Grand ♔Prix.
Quart♛araro has matched Christian Sarron’s premier class record as the French rider with the most pole positions by taking his sixth and the final pole of the 2019 MotoGP season beating Marquez by 0.032s.
The Petronas Yamaha rider, who topped the opening three practice sessions, is content with his qualifying feats but is still searching for setup gains to improve his race pace compared to both Marquez and Vinales who he expects to be his main riꦜvals in tomorrow’s race.
“I am really happy about the pole position but yesterday we were not feeling so great on the pace,” Quartararo said. “We finished P1 in the general classification yesterday but our pace was not so good and today we ma𓂃de a step, not as close as Marc and Maverick’s pace, but I am really happy because we are m💜uch more constant.
“Sector 4 was a🙈 point where we struggled a lot yesterday and today we made a step aꦫnd I hope to make another one tomorrow in warm-up.
“Malaysia was really tough as I mad⛎e a dis💟aster first lap and a disaster start so it was not easy to recover. Also I had a higher tyre pressure in the front tyre [in Malaysia], and I couldn’t stop the bike so that is something we need to work on for next year. Normally here the front pressure doesn’t go so high so normally we wouldn’t have this problem.
“We have been working in a really good way over these two days and I think that we can finish the se🧸ason in a really good way.”
Quartararo hopes to correct his mistakes from the last round in Malaysia with a faster start to stay a part of the leading ܫgroup early on to give himself a better chance of reaching the rostrum at Circuit Ricardo Tormo.
ꦜ“There are three different bikes on the front row but for me the strategy with the Yamaha is always the same,” he said. “Try t♐o make a good start and trying to push in the first laps.
“It is never easy because sometimes we miss the start like we did in Malaysia so we have practiced quite well at this♔🍎 GP so for me the strategy will be to try to push hard in the first five laps and then check the situation.”
Quartararo can wrap up the M🌱otoGP Independent riders’ title as long as he avoids conceding 23 points to Pramac Ducati’s Jack Miller♏ in the 2019 finale.