Two ninth-place finishes thanks to hard work and mistakes by others – Quartararo takes a level-headed view of the Mandalika weekend – Yamaha’s overall situation remains difficult
Fabio Quartararo once again saved the day for Yamaha in Indonesia. The foundation for this was laid during Friday’s practice. The former world champion set the sixth-fastest time after a crash and qualified directly for Q2. In qualifying, however, Quartararo was the slowest rider in twelfth place.
In the sprint, the Frenchman battled in the large chasing pack and picked up a World Championship point by finishing ninth. His team-mate Alex Rins finished third, three seconds behind, in tenth place.
Quartararo attributes the fact that he picked up a World Championship point in the sprint at all to the crashes ahead of him. The two Aprilia riders, Marco Bezzecchi and Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse), were forced to retire at the start in Turn 1 following a crash.
” “I mean, I expected to finish in the position I was in. Two riders crashed in front of me, which is why we ended up in ninth place, but that’s exactly the result I expected,” said Quartararo.
In the Grand Prix, he was riding in the same group. After the first lap, the Yamaha rider was twelfth and gained two places following the crashes of Fermin Aldeguer (Gresini-Ducati) and Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati).
On lap 19, Quartararo managed to overtake Luca Marini’s Honda. Towards the end, he closed in on Fabio Di Giannantonio (VR46-Ducati) but was unable to get past him.
As a result, he finished ninth, just as he had in the sprint race. “It was hot and physically extremely demanding,” Quartararo said, catching his breath. “I pushed flat out right to the end because I could see that ‘Diggia’ was struggling.”
“In the end, though, I was one lap short, and I completely ruined my tyres in the last five laps. Nevertheless, I’m really happy with the race. That was a pretty strong result.”
Rins struggles with engine braking
Teammate Rins, however, struggled with his M1. At the halfway point of the race, the Spaniard was in twelfth place, but then dropped back. Finishing 15th, Rins ultimately picked up one World Championship point.
“The riding feel was really awful – certainly not the same as on Friday or Saturday,” reported Rins. “The track changes and the conditions change for everyone.”
“But on my bike, the engine braking was completely inconsistent. It was the same with the traction control. From the very first lap right through to the end of the race, it felt absolutely dreadful.”
“On top of that, the tyres overheated – the same mystery as always,” sighs Rins. Quartararo, on the other hand, had no electronics issues. When asked about his team-mate’s comments, he cited other factors.
“It wasn’t really a problem for me. We all know that track conditions change significantly after the Moto2 and Moto3 races,” says Quartararo, referring to the grip of the Pirelli tyres.
“ “I did have slight difficulties braking the bike optimally before Turn 1 and Turn 10, but my feel for the front tyre wasn’t too bad, so I was able to compensate for that a bit.”
“But of course, there are always little things. We’ve hardly ridden on the medium tyre this weekend, so I think things like that can simply happen.” In the World Championship standings, Quartararo is joint 14th with Diogo Moreira (LCR-Honda).
Double retirement for Pramac
The Pramac team suffered a double retirement in the Grand Prix. Toprak Razgatlioglu was forced to retire due to shoulder problems. He had dislocated his right shoulder during practice on Saturday morning.
Jack Miller finished 13th in the Sprint. In the Grand Prix, the Australian crashed on lap six at Turn 2. “It was quite similar to Japan,” Miller said. “I felt reasonably good in the warm-up.”
“But as soon as we set off for the race, the bike was barely rideable. Something isn’t working as it should – whether it’s the fuel mapping or something else.”
“The engine behaviour is completely erratic. We need to work even harder to understand the cause of this.” With 97 World Championship points, Yamaha are bottom of the manufacturers’ standings. In the teams’ standings, too, both teams occupy the bottom two places.
