MotoGP, Quartararo collapses and flees: chief engineer Gubellini speaks

Fabio Quartararo finished out of the points in Thailand. Diego Gubellini, chief technician of the MotoGP champion, explains what happened in the race.

About Luigi Ciamburro de Motoracing

fabio quartararo had the worst day of this MotoGP season, one of the most difficult and inexplicable races. Starting from fourth place, he immediately found himself sucked into the back of the pack, without ever having the opportunity to overtake. At the end of the 26 rounds of the Thai GP he finished outside the points zone, victim of a Yamaha that the technicians will now have to study to understand the causes and remedy them as quickly as possible.

The tropical climate of Australia and Malaysia could bring other similar weather surprises. After the Buriram stage, the reigning champion canceled the meeting with the journalists, over the last seven races he has lost 89 points and now Pecco Bagnaia is the real favorite, thanks to a Ducati Desmosedici which takes victories, podiums, records and pole positions. The Borgo Panigale manufacturer can also count on eight motorcycles on the track and on teamwork. As happened yesterday in the last laps, when Johann Zarco avoided launching the attack, or as in Motegi, when Marco Bezzecchi covered his back without trying to overtake him.

Fabio Quartararo finds himself alone against everyone, he feels discouraged, but at this moment it is useless to remember that the YZR-M1 lacks top speed. Will this really be the only technical problem? Surely the biggest, but now we have to fight for the final battle with the weapons available.

In the Thai post-race, Fabio Quartararo didn't want to talk to the press, so his team leader Diego Gubellini takes care of it. “ We remain optimistic, fighting until the math decides. Something strange happened today, we had a problem common to all Yamahas, we lacked grip at the front and rear. Something went wrong with the tires, we need to understand the reason. Usually in the wet we have a grip problem at the rear, this time it also happened at the front ».

Gubellini: “ we play the championship until the end, there is no reason to give up »

Previous outings in the wet had not revealed such insurmountable problems, the asphalt conditions could have played a role. But it's also true that the conditions were the same for everyone and the Ducatis flew past, while leaving the victory to the KTM of Miguel Oliveira. Gubellini trying to keep everything under control ahead of the next MotoGP round in Australia. “ The difficulties we encounter in this finale are identical to those at the start of the season, nothing has changed. Our performance in testing has always been very good, in the race we sometimes suffered, the problems were always similar. It was a special race. In Mandalika in the wet we took the podium, an FP3 in the top 3 in Portugal, the Motegi FP1 went well too ».

fabio quartararo decided not to stop talking to the media, and he did not post any messages on social media. Absolute silence, except for the press release which emphasizes the overly aggressive maneuver of Jack Miller in the first laps and which pushed him off the track. We cannot throw in the towel for the moment, in the last three races the Niçois will try to fight for everything, even knowing that the Ducati are fast and aggressive. “ The day after tomorrow he is ready to leave for Australia, there is no resignation, we play the championship until the end, there is no reason to give up. Now, we have to hold on and give that something extra that we may have in our pocket ».

The MotoGP title passes through Australia, Malaysia and Spain, three circuits certainly not very favorable to the Yamaha M1, but where the weather could hold some surprises. “ Phillip Island is a Yamaha track, but the Ducatis were fast on several occasions. Sepang with two long straights in a row is not ideal, last year in Valencia the Ducatis were very fast because there is a lot of acceleration. Even the Red Bull Ring wasn't in our favor – concludes Diego Gubellini -, but we fought for victory ».

MotoGP Thailand Championship: ranking

Credit classification motogp.com