Fabio Quartararo: Thai MotoGP Sprint “destroyed” by lap one Brad Binder overtake

A 10th-place finish for Fabio Quartararo in the Thai MotoGP Sprint came despite some tough battling at the beginning of the race with KTM’s Brad Binder.

Quartararo dropped a number of positions on the first lap, when Binder passed him a turn nine and the Frenchman consequently spun up on the kerb on the exit of the corner.

Although he recovered afterwards, there was regret from Quartararo about how his race started.

“The day was quite good, apart from lap one with Brad [Binder] who overtook us a bit too aggressive, then I lost a lot of positions,” Quartararo said.

“But then, Q1 was nice, Q2 was good; Sprint race, the pace was nice — just, like I said, the first lap where we go two times wide, and lose five positions or even more.

“But, I think we can be happy with the pace we have made today, and just this overtake destroyed a little bit our result in the race.”

Despite the frustrating start to his race, Quartararo was able to come back to 10th place after dropping to 15th with those early exchanges.

“I think our pace was quite [a bit] faster than the guys I had in front, at this moment,” Quartararo said in explanation of his ability to make passes — not a usual characteristic of a Yamaha MotoGP rider’s race.

“But, of course, when I arrived behind [Marco] Bezzecchi or [Fabio Di Giannantonio] to overtake I think it will be a little bit more difficult. But at least I enjoyed [the race], pretty much.”

The 2021 World Champion explained that he was able to make the difference in braking compared to his rivals.

“On the breaking,” Quartararo said when asked where he was making up time.

“I mean, I used the front tyre completely on the limit, and I think this is the place that really I try to make the difference, but we really only brake by the front, and the rear has no grip.

“Luckily with our bike we have this point where I can really feel the limit on the front.”

<H2>Season-best qualifying

Before his Sprint recovery, Quartararo secured a season-best qualifying of sixth.

He achieved that after going through Q1, and set an almost identical time to his Q1 effort to take that sixth place in Q2.

“I think that we pushed the bike completely to the limit,” Quartararo explained.

“The limit was there. We made 1:29.4 in Q1, and 1:29.4 in Q2 — to be honest I have nothing left on the bike.

Quartararo’s qualifying also featured an eye-catching save, as he lost the front on the entry to turn five before his knee or elbow were on the floor but managed to pick the bike up.

He said it was down to the hard-compound front tyre, which doesn’t offer much feeling on the edge of the tyre.

“I think the hard front [tyre] is good, it’s giving us good confidence, but it doesn’t really tell you where you are on the edge [of the tyre],” he said.

“So I really lose the front, and could save it with the knee and the elbow. It’s not really usual to make it with the Yamaha because normally it’s [the front] really going quite fast, but I could save it on time.”