We are now used to seeing Fabio Quartararo in the back-up positions and even in Buriram the Yamaha rider was unable to fight at the top. However, the 5th place finish makes him smile and allows him to close the Thai Grand Prix with a smile. In fact, the Frenchman managed to exploit the potential of his M1 thanks to the stiffer carcass brought by Michelin and this allowed him to understand some aspects to work on for the future.
In fact, it is an optimistic Quartararo who presents himself to the media microphones after the Thai race. Sunday in Buriram may have represented an excellent starting point for a future perspective: “Today was a positive day in one sense. I could see the weaknesses and where we really need to improve. Some things were missing, but I had fun in the race, I’m happy and we will be able to take a step forward, especially next year. There are 3 races left until the end of the season, they are certainly important. But we need to focus on 2024.”
The stiffer carcass undoubtedly contributed to Quartararo’s performance improvement over the weekend: “When the tire wears I can stay a little closer. We could see how the stiffer carcass helped us, because the others don’t generate as much power on the tires. It’s clearly an advantage, like in India, in Mandalika, here. In Japan, in Australia we suffered, so we have to understand well.”
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Fabio Quartararo, Yamaha Factory Racing
But Quartararo appears optimistic: “In the warmup the grip was better and everyone’s pace was faster. Maybe having that pace in the race, but we started from tenth position and this complicated our life. We struggle a little more especially at the start of the race, but now we have identified the problems and we can work on them for next year. I’m happy because usually in the second part of the season we struggle a lot, but today we achieved one of the best results of this season, so we hope that Yamaha can make a big step for next year.”
The Frenchman’s enthusiasm was also seen in the duels, he was the protagonist of a nice brawl with Aleix Espargaro and Marc Marquez: “I had fun in the race, my hands were burning behind Marc and Aleix, but I’m happy with how we finished the day! Coming out of Turn 1 I was doing very well, but we prepared it all weekend in order to have a perfect exit. I think the key for us was to get out of Turn 1 and Turn 11 well, that was our priority all weekend.”
Once the Thai Grand Prix is over, we rest for a week and then return to action for the last three races of the year. However, not everything will be so satisfactory for the Yamaha rider, who expects to struggle: “We’ll see, Valencia was good for us last year, this year it will be colder and it will be fantastic for us especially for the front. I think we can go strong there, but in Malaysia we struggle, as well as in Qatar. So we hope to improve our feeling.”
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