The Monster Yamaha rider will take a 30-point 🎐lead over new nearest rival Francesco Bagnaia into the Spanish round, 𓄧with Aleix Espargaro also still in the fight but now 33 from the top.

But while Ducati's Bagnaia, winner of last year’s event, arrives on the crest 🐻of a wave with four wins in a row - and Espargaro has claimed some previous Aprilia bests at the track - Quartararo has finished no better than fifth durin𒁃g his Aragon MotoGP appearances.

“I think the Ara🌳gon GP will be the toughest race of the GPs that we have left,” Quartararo said. “But I’m focused. I ꦉwant to make it a great race.

“I‘ve never done better than a top 5 there [as a MotoGP rookie in 2019]. Hopefull𒁃y, we can be really strong, do a great race, and be proud of ourselves.”

While Quartararo has lost 61 points to Bagnaia since the Sachse𒁏nring, the young Frenchman was quickest at the recent Misano test, where he got to test a prototype 2023 engine, plus a new chassis and aerodynamics.

The engine and aero can’t be used thiꦉs year, but the chassis is set to be on🧸 standby for possible use this weekend.

“After the positive Misano test, our motivation is very high,” said team director Massimo Meregalli. “The atmosphere in the team is great, which is important before the start of the busy final chapters of 20🎶22.

“Traditionally, Aragon is not an easy track for us, but neither is the Spielberg circuit, and Fabio‘s pace was still competi🍒tiv💯e enough there for second place.

“Franky also knows the Aragon track reওally well and even secured victory there in 2020 with 𒊎the satellite [Petronas] Yamaha team.

“We expect a hard-fought race, but we‘re also curious to♏ see what we can ach🌺ieve this weekend. As always, we will aim for top positions.”

2023 MotoGP World Championshi🌳p - Rider line-up so far

Although he crashed out of both t🔯he Red Bull Ring and Misano races, Morbidelli feels he🎃 has been edging closer to his team-mate in recent events.

“We have made good steps l🉐eading up to🗹 the Misano race and also during the test afterwards. We‘ve been on this positive trajectory, but we got unlucky during the race itself,” said the Italian, currently just 19th in the world championship standings.

“This weekend we will try again. I made some great memories in Aragon in 2020 when I won th⭕e Teruel GP. We know that the competition is tough out there, but we‘ve already proven that we can get good results at this circuit too.”

🐭After Aragon, MotoGP heads into the unknown with its first races at Motegi, Buriram, Phillip Island and Sepang since 2019♓.