Fabio Quartararo has finished a year that will have counted in his career. Revelation of MotoGP after a more than convincing first season at this level, the young Frenchman has also established himself in the Yamaha landscape. In Jerez, during the two days of testing, he was able to taste the 2020 mechanics concocted for the M1 by Iwata engineers. He will have to adapt to this development but the Petronas driver is delighted with a first contact which put him in the top 5 in the cumulative ranking. He was also careful not to go straight to the operating room at the start of his winter vacation, like Marc Márquez…
We will indeed recall that the Honda official is currently under the knife to treat an injured right shoulder after a fall on the first day of the Jerez tests. fabio quartararo, for his part, leaves the same circuit in full possession of his means and with already a good idea of what his Yamaha will be like in 2020. And for good reason: “el Diablo” did not tempt the devil when the rain came to disrupt the debates: “ I did five revolutions just to make sure the engine is running well and there are no problems ", said fabio quartararo. " We then saw that the track was not really wet but also not completely dry. It was therefore useless to pilot and take the risk of a stupid fall »
The best rookie of the 2019 season, who fell heavily on the wet Phillip Island track in FP1, seems to have learned lessons from his sad experience. “ If it had been really useful for us, we would have stayed longer. But, frankly, it was so much more dangerous than pouring rain. We must not take any risks now. We have just tested the engine in these conditions, everything was fine and I am happy with it “, said the 20-year-old pilot.
The teammate of Franco Morbidelli got a first glimpse of the Yamaha engine at Jerez in 2020. “ We still need to work on a power delivery that feels different from the old engine. Of course, we also know what we need and that is top speed. I think it's clear to everyone. We need to do more laps, that was actually the plan for this Tuesday. But overall we did a good job “, declared the young man from Nice.
What exactly has changed? “ The performance is different. Maybe the engine is smoother, but more aggressive. It's very difficult to explain, you can see it more from the data than from my feeling. But also on Tuesday morning, I drove in 1'38,1 min with a tire that had 28 laps. This means we are on the right path. But we don't feel as good as on the old bike, we need to work on that. »
fabio quartararo, finished : " of course, my statements to Yamaha are more precise than what I can tell you. I don't want people to get mad at me », smiles the Frenchman. “ That's what I can say. But it's not bad, because for me the rhythm is the most important, and we have it. »
Tuesday results:
Results of the two days of testing in Jerez:
