Petronas Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo bagged second on the overall Qatar MotoGP test timesheet but seemed to be unsurprised, saying his progress in the class has been gradual but non-stop.
The Frenchman, who came up from Moto2 over winter, wasn’t in the game at the Jerez test but showed significant improvement at Sepang before bursting forth in the desert and ‘beyond expectations’ of team boss Wilco Zeelenberg.
“It has been a very positive day for us. This morning the day wasn’t looking so good because it was cold and there was sand on the track, but in the end the wind dropped and once again every time I went out on track I felt better,” said Quartararo.
“So far this year I have only had six days on the bike and to be honest I feel very comfortable with it. I have managed to do a couple of really fast laps and that is what we were lacking at Sepang. Here we have not struggled to do the lap times, we were on the pace quickly and they have been fast. It was also good to get a race simulation in.
“Compared with the one I did at Sepang, this one was better in terms of my pace but it was also difficult because I was riding alone virtually the whole time. I think we are making gradual, non-stop progress.”
Zeelenberg said: “The test here in Qatar has gone even better than we expected. We know that the Yamaha is quite suited to this track but obviously the lap times from Fabio have been incredible and were beyond our expectations - everything went very smoothly for him.
“Looking back on our preseason as a whole I can only say that I think we can be proud of what we have created and everything we have achieved as a team so far. At the same time, we also need to be realistic and remember that we haven’t scored any points yet in the championship. It looks like things are under control for the moment, so let’s start racing.”
