Fabio Quartararo in the top 10 twice on Friday at Misano and enjoying riding again for the first time in a long time – Alex Rins praises new Yamaha chassis
A flash in the pan or a real upward trend? On the practice day of the MotoGP weekend at the San Marino Grand Prix in Misano, Yamaha rider Fabio Quartararo made it straight into Q2. The 2021 MotoGP World Champion finished ninth in the decisive practice session on Friday afternoon. That was enough for him to miss out on the Q1 segment in qualifying on Saturday
In the first free practice session on Friday morning, Quartararo had even finished fifth. The big question now is: Is Yamaha really (finally) making progress? Or is the good result on Friday just a consequence of the fact that the Japanese manufacturer had a private test at the Misano circuit just two weeks ago?
Quartararo, whose last direct Q2 finish was at Le Mans in May this year, says: “It’s been a long time since I felt as comfortable riding as I did today. That was fun. The feeling is simply completely different when you see at the start of a session that you are third, fourth or fifth. It allows me to enjoy driving again. We’ll be aiming for the third row in qualifying. That would be good. “
Despite P5 in the morning and P9 in the afternoon, Quartararo reveals: “In terms of pace, I have a good feeling. But the one fast lap is still a problem for us.” He is referring less to the riding experience and more to the fact that “we are only three and a half tenths of a second faster on fresh tires than on tires that are already seven laps old. The other manufacturers improve by almost a second.”
Alex Rins praises new chassis
Quartararo’s team-mate Alex Rins only managed P17 in both sessions on Friday at Misano. But the Spaniard is also quite satisfied. “We tried out a new chassis today. And I have to say, it works quite well,” says Rins, who sees himself and Yamaha ‘on the right track’.
When asked what exactly he likes better about the new chassis of the M1, the first-year Yamaha factory rider replied: “It’s a bit more agile. During the season so far, we always had the problem that the bike didn’t turn well. At the exit of corners, we always had to ride a wider line than we actually wanted to because the bike was so heavy. “
With the new chassis, the Yamaha is “a bit more agile in the fast direction changes of turns 1, 2 and 3”, as Rins describes with reference to the Misano layout. Compared to the test just under two weeks ago, he was “one second faster” on Friday, as he says. However, Rins does not want to overestimate this: “You can’t seriously compare it because the grip level of the track is much better now.”
Rins explains why, despite his good feeling and the jump in lap times compared to the test, he did not get beyond P17 on the practice day: “In terms of the set-up, we tried a combination of the set-up from the test and the set-up from the Aragon weekend. But that didn’t work as well as I would have liked.”
Not only Rins, but also Quartararo tried the Yamaha with the new chassis for a few laps on Friday in Misano. However, he describes the difference as small. When asked about the fact that Rins emphasized the better handling in his media lap, Quartararo replied: “I didn’t have that impression. Yes, it helps a bit on the limit, but in terms of handling it doesn’t really help. “
