Fabio Quartararo “had the pace to be faster, but we were blocked” in Barcelona MotoGP Sprint

Fabio Quartararo finished a frustrating 10th in the Barcelona MotoGP Sprint, but spent much of the second half of the race battling with several Ducati riders.

Quartararo lost out on the final point on offer on the final lap when he was passed by Brad Binder, but had previously been battling with Marc Marquez, Franco Morbidelli, and Marco Bezzecchi for a position inside the top-eight.

“I mean his point will not have changed anything of this race,” Quartararo said.

“But, we had the pace to be faster, but we were clearly blocked, so unfortunately I could not overtake.

“But I think the potential was quite good, but missing a lot of power and a lot of grip to be able to fight with them.”

Quartararo at least felt that his performance was better than the Catalan Grand Prix held at the same circuit in May.

“It was a bit better, it was nice to see Marc [Marquez] quite close to me, even if he had an issue in the third corner,” Quartararo said.

“We are not able to try any overtake, the overtake I did on [Marco] Bezzecchi is not a typical overtake: you just risk everything, I don’t know if I’m going to touch him or not, so it’s not a pure overtake.

“So, it’s difficult because our speed is so low, and the grip is even worse. We are working on it, but this track is demanding on these two aspects.”

Rins: “We were not able to find the right setup for me”

Alex Rins’ race was ruined somewhat at the start when he dropped to last place having been caught up in the aftermath of the “issue” Quartararo mentioned about Marc Marquez in the third turn.

Marquez made contact with Pedro Acosta, which ripped the front fairing off Acosta’s bike and forced him to retire, while Rins spent time avoiding the debris and dropped to last.

“I did two corners with the fairing of [Pedro] Acosta in front of me, avoiding, and I go back to last position,” Rins said.

“So, starting from that, our race was not bad; I recovered six positions, I felt quite strong. But then, when I arrived to [Luca] Marini, my tyres were done.

“I tried to overtake him, did one lap in front of him, but then in turn one I went straight, locking the front, so I couldn’t do more.”

Rins’ issues were much the same as Quartararo’s, mostly a lack of rear grip, but he was able to make a decent pace despite that.

“Overall, this GP we are struggling, but I’m finding the way,” he said.

“We are struggling on traction, we are struggling on the rear grip, but even like this I’m able to ride in low-1:40s, high-1:39s, so for tomorrow if we have luck and I take a good position on the first lap, I think it can be a good result between P10 and P13, because I’m feeling quite good — where the bike cannot arrive I try to put my maximum.”

Comparing himself to his teammate, Quartararo, Rins said: “Compared to Fabio [Quartararo], here, it looks not bad. Still, I’m a little bit lost with my setup.

“When I stop after the race, I say the same thing to my engineers, the same as I was saying in Qatar.

“This year, we were not able to find the right setup for me.

“So, honestly I’m over-riding the bike. I cannot go with the flow. This is negative, because I ask more of the tyres, I make more mistakes.

“When you don’t have the bike in your hands, it’s worse.”