Fabio Quartararo’s P5 “a bit of light at the end of the tunnel”, Rins: "My condition worsened"

Fabio Quartararo beat his San Marino MotoGP qualifying time as he broke into the 1m 30s for a surprise fifth place in Friday practice at the Emilia Romagna round.

The Frenchman, who matched Yamaha’s best grand prix result of the season with seventh at the same Misano circuit two weeks ago, made a big leap from a best of 1m 31.581 on medium tyres to a 1m 30.886 on a new medium front and soft rear.

That left Quartararo 0.6s from the top, but behind only the world championship leading Ducatis of Francesco Bagnaia, Jorge Martin, Marc Marquez and Enea Bastianini.

“I think fifth was the best position we could fight for today,” Quartararo said. “The people in front are clearly on another level.

“We did our best, and I did a great lap. I think we can still improve a little bit more, but the person in front of me is almost three tenths faster. But at least we secured our spot in Q2.

“I was looking to drop into the 1'30s, and it was great to reach that goal today. I think that tomorrow we can make another small step, but after so many days that we've been riding here, the margin is very small.

“Our bike is quite slow on the straights so to fight is quite difficult but I will give my maximum like I did during the San Marino GP Sprint and Race. I think that we have the pace.

“The goal for tomorrow is to finish somewhere between P6-P9. Hopefully, we can achieve it.”

But Quartararo played down any major development breakthrough.

"We changed a little bit the setup on the front," he explained. "We used a different engine, but it's not an engine that gives us much more performance, it's just an engine that help to ride a little bit more smoothly. And that's it. Nothing really special."

Nonetheless, team director Massimo Meregalli hailed Quartararo’s result as “very rewarding for the team. We have been working hard all season and, of course, also at the recent Misano Test.

“To see the fruits of our labour and a bit of light at the end of the tunnel is a great source of motivation.

“Fabio is doing a great job, and we are determined to keep this positive momentum going tomorrow in the qualifying and the Sprint.”

Quartararo was the only Yamaha on track this afternoon with team-mate Alex Rins, last in the morning session, sitting it out due to a fever.

“I was very disappointed that I couldn‘t ride this afternoon,” Rins said. “Unfortunately, I haven‘t been feeling well since yesterday.

“I had a bit of a fever, but I was hoping it would get better. Instead, my condition worsened today, and I preferred not to take any unnecessary risks.

“Now I‘ll rest, and I hope to feel better tomorrow so I can go back onto the track.”

“I want to say that the team is fully behind Alex' choice to sit out the Practice today because of his fever,” Meregalli added. “We hope he will make a speedy recovery and will be able to join us in the garage again tomorrow.”