Quartararo: Just a matter of luck

Fabio Quartararo has offered his view on the dramatic first corner accident that ended his and Andrea Dovizioso’s chances of a successful British Grand Prix, stating his reaction to Alex Rins’ slide just ahead was the cause.

In light of his rapid free practice pace, the Frenchman was the pre-race favourite to challenge Marc Marquez for victory. But his challenge lasted all of six seconds as he high-sided out of fourth place. His wayward Yamaha M1 then careered into the hapless Dovizioso.

“Rins overtook me, but I could overtake Jack [Miller] round the outside in the first corner,” Quartararo explained. “We opened at the same time as Rins, he lost the rear quite a lot, and I shut the throttle quite aggressively to not go into him, and I just made a big slide also, and unfortunately I had a highside.

“I had some moments, but this one was really strange, because if Rins didn't make the mistake, for sure we keep sliding and just at this moment, I was starting to pick up the bike.

“I'm not the only rider who lost the grip in this corner. Rins lost the grip, I lost the grip, so it's just like I said, a race incident and that's it.

“So for me, it was just a matter of luck that this happened. But we took good experience, every time we were first, and it was tough. We made a good start and during the weekend we learned many things.”

Asked how such a violent movement could occur during a time of traction control and sophisticated electronics, Quartararo offered, “Well, I don't think it's a question of Traction Control.

“Normally it's more on the gas, and when I saw Rins, I closed the gas really aggressively, and that was the moment when the bike lost stability. I was already sideways with the throttle, but when I shut the throttle, it went really aggressive.”

Miller was stationed just behind the Frenchman at the time of his fall, and had his own explanation of what unfolded.

“Unfortunately for him, normally you go through that corner in third and the bike’s mapped for third but when you come off the start like that from the second row you’re only in second gear,” said the Australian.

“So you whack on the throttle, it has a lot more power than it normally does in third gear – third gear is normally a lot smoother. Once you lash it on… As soon as he did it, it went ‘Wooooo.’ I said, ‘This ain’t good.’”

On whether the crash meant he missed out on a first MotoGP win, Quartararo was sure he had the pace to, at least, challenge Marquez and Rins.

“Well, we don't know, because in the end, if we check the pace, I think only a few riders were like the practice, but I think our pace was really good during the morning. With 16 laps on the tire, we made a 1m 59.6s.

“So that's something that was really good for us, the pace was really good, but of course during the race it's really difficult to know if we had the opportunity to win. But if we check on the papers, the pace was really good to fight for the win.

“For sure there is something to learn. We know that this is a very special weekend, everyone went with the hard tire, and to warm it up, it's more difficult than with the medium or the soft.

“So for me it's OK. We learned many things during the practice, even this morning we played a lot with the mapping to be fast, and it was good. We made a good pace, we were there every session, and apart from qualifying when we had some issues, we were there.

“It's just a matter of waiting for Misano, and we're ready.”

On his physical condition, Quartararo added, “I'm OK. I'm quite lucky that I haven't broken anything, but that's positive, but I hope Dovi is quite well, because he had a big crash.”

The Frenchman later complained of dizziness and was diagnosed with concussion. He was taken to Coventry hospital as a result but the Petronas SRT Yamaha team confirmed he was “fine and everything is OK.” Quartararo was soon discharged.