Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo ended his first day in Jerez second in the MotoGP combined times and is positive there is more to come ahead of the Spanish GP.

Having won both races at Jerez last season and already started 2021 with two victories from the opening three races, the Monster Energy rider remained within the top-five for both of Friday’s free practice sessions with the Frenchman consistently challenging the standings in the afternoon. His penultimate effort - a 1’37.387 set on a soft-soft combination - saw him conclude FP2 second overall, just 0.178s off Pecco Bagnaia’s fastest time.

“First of all, I’m feeling good on the bike, that’s important” Quartararo stated after the session. “We have great pace, but we are struggling with used tyres, which is strange. Last year, when the conditions were much hotter, I felt zero drop on the rear tyre, today, I felt quite a big drop in the morning and the afternoon, so we need to check what’s happening.

“I was comfortable on new tyres but on used tyres they have something more than us. I’m feeling confident with the bike and I feel like we have already an idea of changes for tomorrow, because we saw that something was, not wrong but not correct. We have a little bit of margin to improve.

“My strategy is still the same but just want to try something different on the bike because I feel like it’s going to help us. The conditions of today was not so great so I feel like with more hot conditions and a little bit more grip, our bike will be little bit better.

“I feel like we need to make a small step and the track too, so that’s why I’m really looking forward tomorrow because they said it’s going to be hotter conditions and normally we get a little bit more grip.

“Honestly, today I felt exactly the same as last year apart from the rear grip and the temperature. We have a little bit of struggle with tyre consistency, but otherwise I feel great. The feeling is good with the bike and with this track, I feel really close to last year so this is something good and I feel like the bike is working really well.”