MotoGP championship leader Fabio Quartararo says he and Yamaha are “super far from the others” in qualifying, and is desperate for a solution to be found.
Quartararo will start this weekend’s race at Misano a lowly eighth, having lapped 0.347s off pole in a mixed-weather session that nevertheless ended with the track surface virtually dry.
The Frenchman is known as a qualifying specialist, having become MotoGP’s youngest ever poleman in his rookie year and then winning the BMW M Award for the season’s best qualifying record in both 2020 and his title-winning 2021 season.
Yet his qualifying record in 2022 has been a clear step-down, Quartararo has been on pole just once and on the front row just four more times this season so far.
“I did only one pole position this year. Indonesia, new track, because the conditions were tricky and we had the new tyre [with a revised carcass], that we didn’t have the test, and we needed to adapt quickly.
“But we are super far from the others. In one lap.”
“At the end, it’s disappointing,” he said of placing eighth. “We are fighting always with the same guys, but they [the Ducatis] are fast, the bike is the reference right now. But of course it’s tough. Because today I gave my 100 percent. I gave my best.
“But it’s only P8. It’s only three tenths, but it’s P8 and really disappointing.”
Ducati had six bikes in the top seven in qualifying, with Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales – a former team-mate of Quartararo’s – the only ‘interloper’, fifth-fastest.
Quartararo acknowledged that the qualifying situation was particular. As the track dried, it “took many laps to be really there” in terms of confidence, and water meant he had to stay off the kerbs.
“In this condition, some corners I could not go on the kerb so I could not really carry the speed like you have to do on the Yamaha, and we don’t have any acceleration.
“From [Turns] 6 to 7 was not great. [Turn] 15 I had to take less corner speed because I couldn’t really use the kerb.
“I’m disappointed but it’s always the same problem [lack of top speed] and I’m starting to have much less fun than before, and we have to find a solution.”
Though Quartararo recovered from a situation that looked just as precarious at the Red Bull Ring – having started behind four Ducatis there but making his way up to second, a charge completed by a sumptuous pass on Jack Miller in the chicane – he did not sound convinced of charging through the field this Sunday, despite strong race pace.
“This year, the most important is the qualifying. Because right now I’m already thinking – if I have the pace that I think we have, quite the fast pace – where I can overtake. Because there is nowhere I can overtake… in Turn 8, in Turn 1, maybe Turn 4, but it’s still a question mark.
“But of course for one lap you need the grip, Ducati have quite a lot, but they can combine it with power, that’s something we need to use.”
