Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo put the Barcelona leathers controversy behind him as he completed Friday practice second only to KTM’s Miguel Oliveira at the Sachsenring.
Recovering quickly from a turn-12 crash in the opening stages of FP1, which initially looked to have damaged his right shoulder, the Frenchman continued on to complete both of the day’s free practice sessions in second place. Recording a 1’20.910 as his best time of the day, despite struggling with a lack of front feeling, the Monster Energy man was one of only two riders to set laps inside the 1’21 barrier.
“More than the shoulder, it was the hand that was feeling sore but was just the impact and after was okay” Quartararo explained this afternoon.
“In FP2 I could really feel that everything’s fine - in the moment it was little bit scary but everything was fine.
“We did a long run, because my tyres finished with 33 or 34 laps, so was really long. I didn’t really compare with all the other riders, but I feel in myself quite good. With 32 laps on the tyre I managed to make 1’22.5, with a tyre from this morning, so I feel quite okay. I feel that we can improve a little bit because the feeling of the bike was not so good today, especially on the front. We have some ideas for tomorrow but we are not so far, so I’m quite happy about today.”
Discussing the afternoon’s eventual victor and Barcelona winner, Miguel Oliveira, the Frenchman was quick to praise his Portuguese rival.
“Miguel’s made a big step. I think KTM made a big step on the bike but it looks like he’s going super fast. Luckily he didn’t really make the perfect start to the season, because he’s riding super well, super strong, so we need to keep an eye on him for the rest of the championship.”
After dominating the morning practice, however, Marc Marquez remained the one to watch for many, Quartararo included, despite failing to set a time attack throughout the afternoon.
“I feel that he was super strong. In 2019 I remember he made my life so hard for me to get my first victory, so I will try to do the same” The Yamaha rider joked before continuing seriously.
“He looks like he’s super fast, the pace looks good. We know that in this track he is super fast. I’m one of the only one’s who wants to really say but I think everyone thinks the same, that he’s had a really tough time and I will be happy for him if he gets a really good result - but then happy for him but not happy for us. We need to try to manage to get a really good result here and try to not let him win. I’m here to fight for the win and for the podium.
“For me, before Mugello and Barcelona, they told me Ducati will make a great comeback but we were there, before the bad luck, fighting for the victory and I think they will fight for the podium here also. Of course there are tracks where the Yamaha feels a little bit better, or the Ducati better but I feel that this year it’s more the rider that makes the difference. I don’t really feel it’s a matter of bike - looks like Pecco struggled a lot today - but we need to stay focused on our side because we are not feeling so good on the bike today. So I’m focused on myself, I’m not looking at the others.”
