Extra track time ‘not an advantage’ for Fabio Quartararo in MotoGP testing
Yamaha rider believes strong testing pace not a result of extra track time
Fabio Quartararo doesn’t believe riding in the shakedown has been an advantage for him as he continued to show strong Yamaha pace on Thursday at the Sepang MotoGP test.
Yamaha has made an encouraging start to the pre-season testing phase of the 2025 campaign with its new M1, with Quartararo fastest on day one at Sepang and second on day two.
Across both days, three of the four factory M1s have been inside the top 10, with Quartararo improving from a 1m57.555s to a 1m57.324s on Thursday.
Yamaha’s race riders have had two extra days of track running having taken part in the shakedown, though Quartararo doesn’t believe this is contributing to its strong timesheet showing this week.
“No, I don’t think so, because already on the second of the shakedown I made 1m57.7s I think and it was raining when I made this,” he said when asked if his strong pace is a result of extra track time.
“So, I think that it’s not really an advantage.
“For me it’s good training physically, you don’t have the chance to ride the GP bike [in the winter], so physically it was good for me to make it.
“But to be honest, making that many laps in the track already I’m really happy that tomorrow is the last one and we’ll change the track.”
Quartararo says he focused mainly on electronics settings on Thursday in a bid to improve the Yamaha’s rear grip, though says “we didn’t really achieve” the gains he was looking for in this area.
While rear grip has improved through fast corners, Quartararo admits it’s still a problem in low-gear acceleration zones and this will make next week’s Buriram test “tougher”.
“In some areas yes, in others no,” he said when asked if rear grip had improved.
“It’s 50/50. We ride in a much better way, but the traction is still very low for us.
“It [the Buriram test] will be tougher, I think, but our engine is a bit faster than last year.
“So, I think this will be a help. But especially from low-gear corners we are struggling a lot with the rear grip.
“When it’s fast corners, the grip is not the bad. But starting from really slow corners is where we really struggle.
“So, this will be the main goal for Buriram, and the four days we have been here it was the main focus for the test.”
While Yamaha has had many new developments to try, one of the most visible has been a different chassis to what it tested in Barcelona last November.
Quartararo doesn’t see the new one as being any worse, but he prefers the older version for his riding style.
“So, I prefer the black one [older spec], which is [from] Barcelona test, but it’s [the new one] is not bad - it’s not worse,” he said.
“It’s just the way I ride is I feel better with last year’s one. But I was also fast with this [new] one in the test - really, really similar. But if I had to choose one, it’s the black one.”
Quotes provided by Crash MotoGP Editor Peter McLaren
