Quartararo: “People say my charisma is close to Valentino Rossi’s”
Rossi is MotoGP’s biggest-ever superstar whose fame crossed into mainstream culture, and he did it while amassing seven premier class titles.
Quartararo will vie for his second title in 2023 riding a Yamaha, for the team that Rossi became synonymous with.
“To have my personality is something great because some riders can be super-fast but don’t have the personality,” he told Road Racing World.
“And I feel like: ‘okay, I have my own personality’.
“It’s different to the other one, but it’s true that many people say the charisma I have is close to Valentino. That is a great thing.”
Rossi’s MotoGP career spanned 19 years, although he failed to win the championship in his final 12 seasons after swapping Yamaha for Ducati, then returning to Yamaha.
Quartararo does not plan to match Rossi’s longevity: “I wish to be 10 more years in MotoGP. It depends a lot on how it’s going with injuries.
“Hopefully, I will not get so many injuries, but of course I would like to ride until I’m 32 or 33.”
Quartararo was pipped to a second consecutive title on the final day of the 2022 season, as Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia completed a 91-point turnaround to become champion for the first time.
Much of Quartararo’s struggles were attributed to a below-par Yamaha bike, in contrast to Bagnaia’s Ducati which was widely credited as the most effective on the grid last year.
He will discover more about his 2023 bike at the Sepang test in February: “Yes, straight away. In the first five laps, I will know if the bike is good or not, especially on the top speed.
“For the chassis and everything you need to do more, but on the engine I will know straight away if it is better or not.”
James was a sports journalist at Sky Sports for a decade covering everything from American sports, to football, to F1.
