Overtaking ‘is a nightmare’ at Sachsenring, ‘podium was important’ - Quartararo

Fabio Quartararo claimed his first Sachsenring podium - fifth of the 2021 MotoGP season after battling back from sixth place. 

The factory Yamaha rider started second on the grid and got a good initial launch, but after being passed by Aleix Espargaro and Marc Marquez into turn one, the 22 year-old lost more places to Johann Zarco, Jack Miller and Miguel Oliveira. 

But as the race progressed, Quartararo was able to make key overtakes on Espargaro and Miller in the span of three laps which saw him attempt to break away from the battling group behind. 

Quartararo managed to do just that, however, it came too late in order to make any impression on runaway leaders Marquez and Oliveira. 

Nonetheless, it’s another podium for the Frenchman who said victory was already going to be ‘difficult’ from morning warm-up due to a sector two problem. 

"Really good day because this morning we saw a really weak point on the sector two that I knew we were gonna struggle, and it’s what happened on the race. Turn six/seven we were extremely slow," added Quartararo.  

"Then on the other parts of the circuit we were quite okay, but this corner where we stay a longtime on the angle we struggle a lot. 

"It was quite clear this morning with the team that we say ‘okay, we have a good pace, but to fight for the victory it looks like it’s difficult, looks like these two guys (Marc Marquez and Miguel Oliveira) were super fast. 

"The goal was to try finish in front of the Ducati’s and try to finish on the podium and we achieved it."

After the race, Quartararo alluded to turn one being a problem for him which is where he lost most of his positions early on. 

But with the known difficulties of overtaking at Sachsenring - Quartararo called it ‘a nightmare’, the fight back through to third was pretty impressive, given other Yamaha riders struggled to do the same.   

Quartararo said: "First corner was quite bad for me. I’m struggling to brake late on the first corner. It’s a point I need to work on because I’m not feeling so good. 

"Also when the rain came I was thinking about Le Mans that was a good moment, but in that track (Sachsenring) it’s a nightmare to overtake. 

"I know that when Miguel [Oliveira] goes second that these two guys were gonna leave even if Marc [Marquez] was already in front. 

"I say ‘okay I was behind Aleix [Espargaro] and Jack [Miller] and I need to manage the tyres and on that race I learned quite lot. This podium was so important when we didn't’ have the correct feeling."