After a splendid performance which saw her cross the finish line of the San Marino and Rimini Riviera Grand Prix in 2nd position on the Misano circuit, fabio quartararo spoke at the press conference following the race.
As usual, we report here the raw words of Fabio Quartararo, without the slightest journalistic interpretation.
Fabio, what a superb race! You must have learned a lot after this battle with Marc Márquez, 7 times world champion…
fabio quartararo : “yes, of course it was a very tough race. I knew he was going to try to do something on the last lap. You know, when you have written “Score +0,2” on the scoreboard for 20 laps, it's not easy, but in the end I didn't make a big mistake even if sometimes I missed the point of rope in certain turns. But the good thing was that he overtook us in the first corner and we were able to pass him again in turn 4, and we fought for the victory until the last moment. Yes, today fighting in the race with him was the best moment of my life and I hope to have many more moments like that during this season. »
Tell us again about the last round. Did you expect to have Marc next to you in the final stretch at the finish line?
“Um… Of course, not close but I knew we had pace this weekend since we had two days of testing two weeks ago. Marc was very fast at the end of the race and it wasn't easy: when he overtook us at turn 8, I widened a little, but I took turn 11 in a very good way, then I I gave my best until turn 14, the last place to overtake. We made a small mistake but I can only be happy with this race. »
You say you made some mistakes. Was it in the last lap?
“Yes, but actually it wasn't any mistakes, it was just that Marc closed the door at turn 14, but I saw that he was coming into the corner really, really, really fast. I told myself it wasn't going to work. And in the end, I don't know how he did it, but he really stayed on course. I enlarged it a bit but it wasn't really a mistake. »
Fabio, how do you feel when you hear Marc Márquez say that you were the best driver today?
“Above all, I was really looking forward to a fight with him, and ultimately it was the first time we really found ourselves together on the track. We had already been there during testing but we had never done a full lap together. Today we did the whole race like that and I was able to overtake him for the first time at turn four. Yes, it was really great to have a fight with him and I also learned a lot of things about not being pressured, even though I was under pressure because he was less than 0,2 seconds during all the turns. Definitely, we gain good experience every time we go to a circuit. This is the first time we have done it in MotoGP. Of course we see that every time Marc goes to a circuit he is always first, and I think he has a lot of experience of circuits in MotoGP. I think that next year, when we arrive at this circuit in FP1, we will already know how the bike behaves, we will have some references and a lot more experience. »
You led the race for a lot of laps and that was very impressive, but we saw that at Silverstone Marc led the race before trying to let Rins pass. It was a strategy. Will you use this strategy of not leading the race as much in the future, so as not to show where you are fast and where you are not so fast?
“I think Marc lost two races in the last corner but in most of the races he led he won. So I think today the right choice was to be in first position because we know that with our bike, if we have someone in front and it's not a Yamaha, it's difficult to ride the machine in the same way. We know that every bike requires a type of riding style, and for us, leading the race was a better choice than staying behind. In the end, it was a good choice. We have to think that we are a rookie and that we are doing very well. I have gained a lot of experience and if I have the opportunity to lead the whole race again, I will do it. »
FABIO QUARTARARO FRA rPETRONAS YAMAHA SRT rYAMAHArMotoGPr GP San Marino 2019 (Circuit Misano)r13-15.09.2019 photo: MICHELIN
MotoGP San Marino Misano J3: race classification
| 1 | 93 | Marc MÁRQUEZ | Honda | 42'25.163 |
| 2 | 20 | Fabio QUARTARARO | Yamaha | +0.903 |
| 3 | 12 | Maverick VIÑALES | Yamaha | +1.636 |
| 4 | 46 | Valentino ROSSI | Yamaha | +12.660 |
| 5 | 21 | Frank MORBIDELLI | Yamaha | +12.774 |
| 6 | 4 | Andrea Dovizioso | Ducati | +13.744 |
| 7 | 44 | Pol ESPARGARÓ | KTM | +20.050 |
| 8 | 36 | Joan Mir | Suzuki | +22.512 |
| 9 | 43 | Jack Miller | Ducati | +26.554 |
| 10 | 9 | Danilo PETRUCCI | Ducati | +31.456 |
| 11 | 5 | johann zarco | KTM | +32.388 |
| 12 | 41 | Aleix ESPARGARÓ | Aprilia | +34.477 |
| 13 | 53 | Tito RABAT | Ducati | +35.325 |
| 14 | 99 | Jorge Lorenzo | Honda | +47.247 |
| 15 | 55 | Hafiz Syahrin | KTM | + 1'02.280 |
| 16 | 88 | Miguel OLIVEIRA | KTM | + 1'07.831 |
| 17 | 17 | Karel ABRAHAM | Ducati | + 1'24.666 |
| 18 | 30 | Takaaki NAKAGAMI | Honda | 1 laps |
| Not Classified | ||||
| 35 | Cal Crutchlow | Honda | 5 lapses | |
| 51 | Michael PIRRO | Ducati | 6 lapses | |
| 42 | Alex RINS | Suzuki | 12 lapses | |
| 63 | Francesco Bagnaia | Ducati | 16 lapses |
Photo credit : MotoGP.com
