Fabio Quartararo was at a loss to explain why his Yamaha was so fast on Friday at the MotoGP Spanish Grand Prix.
Although the 2021 world champion qualified on the second row for the previous race in Qatar, he was not expecting to continue that form on the low-grip circuit at Jerez.
Yet the Frenchman looked a genuine contender for the fastest time in practice, before a crash at the last corner of a flying lap that was set to propel him to the top of the timesheets by some margin.
Quartararo rejoined the session with his first-choice M1 despite the mishap at Lorenzo corner with 13 minutes remaining. Although his practice was compromised by some minor damage to the bike, a multitude of yellow flags and a mistake that spoiled his last opportunity, he was able to breeze into Q2 with the fifth-fastest time.
Bearing in mind his difficulties, finishing within half a second of pace-setter Alex Marquez and one place behind championship leader Marc Marquez promised much for the weekend.
“The pace was good, unfortunately [I had] the crash, but it was a positive day,” said the 26-year-old. “I have confidence, especially on the front.”
“I'm really happy and the front feeling of our bike is incredible. But when you push too much, you find a limit like in that last corner [Lorenzo].”
Yet Quartararo was perplexed by the pace of the Yamaha in Spain: “I want to understand why we were fast today. You know I have a good feeling, but there is no reason that we are able to go fast at a track like Jerez where the grip is not fantastic.
“After a crash, [with] the bike missing one wing, the steering handlebars like that [not straight], we are only two tenths from Marc. It's not really logical. We have to understand.”
On the basis of Friday, Quartararo now expects to keep up the form in Saturday’s qualifying session. That would likely lead to another strong sprint finish to follow the fifth place he delivered in Qatar.
He is more concerned about the grand prix on Sunday though, where he fears a repeat of his plummet down the order to seventh in the Qatar Grand Prix.
“Tomorrow morning we know that we will go faster, because the temperature will be lower,” he said.
“But especially on Sunday after the Moto2 race, the delta between the others and us, when the grip is lower, is much higher. Let’s see, because on Sunday we never know why, but our grip is super low.”
