Quartararo: Long Lap ‘in a dangerous place’, Ducati aero like ‘Fast and Furious’
Quartararo, who was seen practicing the Long Lap at every opportunity he could, will need to serve his penalty during the opening three laps of Sunday’s British MotoGP.
While Joan Mir felt the Silverstone Long Lap was too short, Quartararo felt differently: "It’s a Long Lap so it’s long, but in the end it is not so bad. I will not say that you don’t lose time because of course you lose time and you lose more metres.
"But you don’t need to be so precise like in Barcelona where the Long Lap is really long. You lose quite a lot. I will not say how much, but you lose quite a lot."
Quartararo appeared to lose little more than a second during his Long Lap attempts, proving Silverstone’s loop is perhaps one of the more friendly on the calendar, however, the reigning MotoGP champion is hoping he’s not made to serve the penalty on lap one which could make it even more ‘dangerous’.
"I need to make it in the beginning and I hope not to make it so much in the beginning because it’s quite a dangerous place to get back on the track. I think it’s something quite important," added the Factory Yamaha rider.
"Of course, it’s a small advantage for me, but for the safety I think it is quite difficult. I hope they will not put it straight away from the first lap but maybe the second or third lap.
"I don’t need to get crazy about this. I just need to make the Long Lap and two laps more will not change."
Asked how much he practiced the Long Lap, Quartararo added: "Every time there was a yellow flag and every time I was missing a lap. I think five or six times today."
Quartararo likes the look of Ducati’s new aero…
While there were some sizzling lap times set in FP2, none more so than Quartararo as the championship leader was the only rider to go underneath the 1m 59s barrier, there was also new aero innovation from Ducati.
With just a few minutes remaining of FP2, Enea Bastianini’s Gresini Ducati was seen sporting new aero parts at the rear of his GP-21 machine.
Looking like the back of a Stegosaurus Dinosaur, Quartararo instead opted for a ‘Fast and Furious’ comparison.
"It looks fun, it looks a bit like Fast and Furious. I’m sure if they put it [on the bike] then it is working."
The champ finishes fastest but opening day of British MotoGP ‘was tough’
Although Quartararo appears to be the rider to beat heading into Saturday’s qualifying day, Friday practice was anything but easy for the series leader.
"It was tough. It was tough because the first laps in FP1 I was a little bit lost,” stated Quartararo. “Not on power or handling, but on braking. On turn eight I was braking and then I released [the brakes]; I didn’t remember how much braking [was needed to stop] the bike. I could not ride after Assen because of the shoulder injury I had and it was strange."
