Fabio Quartararo warms to 2020 Yamaha with record-breaking pole

Fabio Quartararo says he is beginning to enjoy riding the 2020 Yamaha M1 after producing another stunning qualifying performance to claim pole position for the Spanish MotGP in Jerez.

Though the timesheets have suggested otherwise in the run up to this weekend’s season opener, Quartararo has repeatedly admitted he has struggled to find his sweet spot on the latest specification M1 he was upgraded to on the back of his headline grabbing rookie campaign in 2019.

Nevertheless, a ‘big change’ this morning would see Quartararo rediscover his range as he powered to two lap records in FP3 and again in qualifying to notch up his seventh career MotoGP pole position in only 20 career events.

“Friday was tough, the first 20mins I was not able to ride [due to a penalty] and then FP1 was not so easy but then we made quite a big change in FP2 and we improved a lot on the pace, also we don’t make a time attack on the Friday so this morning we tried it, we had a good feeling and the track was totally different from the morning and I didn’t expect that grip. Finally we had a good confidence with the bike, good grip, so let’s see for tomorrow… but I felt great on the bike.

“I think we found something a little bit better in FP4, I stopped quickly in the garage to make a small change and then tomorrow in the warm-up we will need to confirm but I think we are going in a good way finally. It was such a long time since we rode the bike and the 2020 machine is our first race so we need to adapt.

Indeed, the Frenchman would put the differences down to the close affinity he felt with last year’s Petronas SRT Yamaha bike with big changes and says he doesn’t expect it to limit him in race trim as he chases his maiden MotoGP victory.

“It’s not more difficult [to ride] but with the 2019 bike at the end of the year I was feeling better because you have 19 races done, you have the test… whereas here we have 5 months we don’t race on these machines so we need time to adapt and feel exactly same as 2019 bike but the potential of the bike is really good but not feeling exactly same as last year. We will need to make more laps, more practice because we are only first race of the season.

“I think the race will be a good experience, the first race with the 2020 bike, the potential is there and I have a good feeling. It will be fun, it’s been a long time since Valencia, the first thing I want to do is enjoy and ensure everything will go fine. A good start, good first laps and then cross fingers to go as fast as possible.”