MotoGP, Spain J2, Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha/NC): "I hadn't been at the front for a few years, so I wanted to attack"

Although he made a mistake in the sprint race, Fabio Quartararo kept smiling and acknowledged that having led helped him "does good mentally".

The Yamaha clan believed in it but the sprint race of Fabio Quartararo ended in the second round. Author of an incredible pole position A few hours earlier at the Jerez circuit, the Frenchman managed to hold off Marc Márquez in the first corner and lead the first lap. The #93 started the hostilities in the second and, while overtaking the Yamaha rider, the latter made a mistake.

While he probably missed out on a very good result, Quarterly was smiling when he returned to the pit box. He hadn't been in pole position for 1134 days and had therefore no longer felt the adrenaline rush of leading a race. By his own admission, he overdid it, but this adrenaline was the strongest. Finally, he restrained his speed, which “does good mentally”.

"I wanted to be a bit of a leader, it had been a few years since I was in front, so from the first corner I wanted to attack, […] unfortunately we were really at the limit. I tried, I pushed but unfortunately it didn't work. Tomorrow, we'll start with a little more calm.", he confided to the microphone of Canal +. "I knew very well that if I wanted to try to be the leader I couldn't pass Márquez at all, the only moment was that one and then you can see very clearly that on the accelerations we have difficulty."

"In the end, I think it did me good mentally. Even though we didn't finish the race, I managed to be the leader by a few meters. It did me good mentally, and we know we have the ability to ride very fast. Today we had the pace, not at all to win, but to finish second or third. We'll try to get off to a good start tomorrow and fight for the podium."

"Honestly, no one expected me to fight for the podium, to get a pole position. I don't have any really clear goals at the moment. I want to improve with the bike and try to fight for the best possible positions."he said. "I think we had a very good qualifying today and we had a very good first lap."

Spanish Grand Prix sprint race results :