Quartararo: Toprak? We’ll see who my team-mate will be
Fabio Quartararo, the rider 2021 World Superbike champion Razgatlioglu would partner should he join the Monster Yamaha team, called the test a ‘great opportunity’ for the Turkish star.
But the Frenchman also made clear he has no say in the identity of his future team-mate.
“Well, that’s not my thing, of course,” Quartararo said at COTA on Thursday.
“It was a great opportunity for [Toprak] to try the bike for two days [but] I never really talked to him about the test.
“Then for the future of Yamaha, it’s not in my hands. But we’ll see who my team-mate will be next year - it could be Franco, or another…”
Quartararo arrives at round three of the season still looking to convert the potential of the more powerful 2023 M1 into results, with a best finish of seventh so far and tenth place in the early world championship standings.
The former title winner, whose hopes have been blighted by early contact with other riders in both Portimao and Termas, stressed that qualifying is his top priority for COTA.
“The potential in the wet in Argentina was great. The pace in the sprint was not the best, but we are not so far. Just qualifying was the point we need to work on and the key this weekend to make a great qualifying,” said Quartararo, who is yet to qualify in the top nine this year.
Insisting he’s not far away from finding a base setting for the new bike, Quartararo now aims to make further strides this weekend.
“It’s not so much, but everything is so tight that if you are not 100% confident on the bike it’s difficult,” he said. “Portugal was not too bad but we’d had tests just before, then we had to figure out the conditions in Argentina.
“Every time we went on track we changed something, and it was going in a better way. So hopefully we can find our base on this track and, especially in qualifying, make a step forwards.”
Franco Morbidelli, whose Yamaha contract expires this season, is currently one place ahead of Quartararo in the world championship standings.
Peter has been in the paddock for 20 years and has seen Valentino Rossi come and go. He is at the forefront of the Suzuki exit story and Marc Marquez’s injury issues.
