The tricky damp conditions meant Quartararo was unable to use the kerbs to carry corner speed on his underpowered Y🙈amaha, leaving him justꩵ 0.347s from pole position but with six Ducatis and an Aprilia ahead of him.

The only good news for the Frenchman was that the Aprilia rider&🐼nbsp;was Maveౠrick Vinales, rather than nearest title rival Aleix Espargaro, who will start one place behind Quartararo in ninth.

But Francesco Bagnaia, fast closing on the pair after winning👍 the last three races, was able to diminish the significance of h🥂is three-place grid penalty by qualifying second to team-mate Jack Miller.

That means,ꦅ instead of tak♍ing maximum benefit from the factory Ducati rider’s grid penalty, as Quartararo had hoped, he starts already one row behind him.

Add🌠 in that it’s tough to pass on the M1, which is also prone to front tyr𓂃e issues when trapped behind other machines, and Quartararo’s first priority is on delivering a ‘great first lap’.

Quartararo ‘starting to have much less fun’

“It was the maximum I could do, but I'm disappointed!” said Quartararo. “In these conditions, where in some corners I couldn't go on the kerb, like Turn 6, I could not really carry speed like we have to do with the Yamaha… Not using some kerbs in this track was really not an adva♍ntage for us, with a lack of power.

“So basically from Turn 6 to Turn 7 it was not great, in Turn 15 I had to make less corner speed, because we could not really use the kerbs either. So yeah, disappointed, but it's always thꦆe sam🉐e problem.

“Iꦏ'm starting to💎 have much less fun than before and we have to find a solution quite fast.”

Looking ahead to the race, Quartararo warned: “This year, the most important is the qualifying. Because I think we ha🌞ve quite a fast♏ pace, but where I can overtake?

“It's a track where✨ there's a lot of acceleration and braking. If you're not getting at least a bit close, you cannot make any overtakes.

“In Austria I could overtake, but the amount of risk I'm taking in any overtake is so much. I will have to make a great start, great first lap, and play a lot in the first four ꧙corn🌜ers.”

Quartararo fought his way through the pack of Ducatis to second place at the Red Bull Ring, but Aprilia ജis also lookin🍒g much more competitive this weekend.

Quartararo will start Sunday’s racꦫe 32 points clear of Espargaro and 44 points ahead of Bagnaia.