Fabio Quartararo was denied a fifth successive Jerez pole position on Saturday with the Monster Energy Yamaha man settling for second.
While the reigning MotoGP Champion lapped just shy of the all-time lap record, his 2021 rival Pecco Bagnaia broke it, securing the pole position and the Tissot watch at the Andalucian circuit in the process.
“I didn't make five in a row but I was really far,” Quartararo admitted on Saturday afternoon. “Pecco make an amazing lap, to be honest with the condition that we had on track today and the heat on the track, I was really impressed. By our job, I think we make a really good pace on FP4, FP3 with used tyres.
"I think that we have a great pace, a great opportunity to fight for the victory tomorrow but conditions will be totally different.
"After Moto3 and Moto2 race, we know in this kind of track, with the heat, is going to be totally different. But last year I felt great, every year on the races I was pretty fast. So I think that we have a great possibility to make a great result.”
Despite having showcased his affinity with the Jerez track from the beginning of the weekend, the Frenchman is approaching Sunday’s prospects more cautiously than last weekend’s runaway race.
“Is different,” he explained. “Portimao I was feeling straightaway much better than here. Here we have a really great pace but I don't feel I have enough pace to make a gap straightaway. It's true that will be great to see if we can make the group a little bit smaller and then fight at the end or from middle of the race. But I feel we have the pace to at least fight for the podium.”
With Bagnaia back to his pole-worthy best, the paddock is relishing the prospect of a repeat to 2021’s title fight after the Ducati’s slower than expected start to the season. So is the Italian Quartararo’s main target to beat?
“The goal of every rider is to finish in front of everybody and especially in front of Pecco, that today he was super fast,” the 23-year-old answered. “If this was the three last races, of course will be more important but it's still 16 races to go so I think the goal is to finish in front of everyone.
"The goal for tomorrow and the mentality is try to get a good start, great first laps and then see where we can improve during the race because we know that the temperature and feeling on track will be different. So try to adapt ourselves to the condition.”
While the southern Spanish sun was beating down on Saturday, the Andalucian track was still showing signs of damp from Thursday’s thunderstorms and underlying water. A contentious issue ahead of Sunday’s 25-laps.
“Well looks like Pecco didn't see so well the wet patches!” Quartararo joked before elaborating. “But I saw them quite clear on turn eight. For me, disturb a little bit but at the end I think it's for almost everyone the same - that basically we just go behind the wet patches but I don't think is a big issue.
“Maybe if someone try and overtake on this corner can be an issue that he crash and take someone. I will not say dangerous but it's not good to have wet patches on this kind of corner.”
