We return to a loved place
The European MotoGP season opens this weekend at the Autodromo do Algarve, home of the Portuguese Grand Prix. A nation that, in addition to welcoming the MotoGP on a spectacular track, cannot go unnoticed in the heart of Fabio Quartararo, winner here twice in a row in 2021 and 2022. However. after this two-year period, the Frenchman had to deal with a period of competitiveness crisis Yamahaalso confirmed by the outcome of the first GP of this year's championship in Qatar.
The unhappy start
Outside the points in the Sprint, 'El Diablo' only took home 5 points in the main race, finishing 11th. If you also add the 16th place for Alex Rinsit is clear that the Japanese company is going through a rather complex moment that continues from last year to today, just like its compatriot Honda.
What to analyze
Team manager Massimo Meregalli asked his riders for calm and patience, starting with Quartararo. Aware of the work that is still underway to improve the performance of the YZR-M1, the 2021 world champion is thus preparing for the Portimao event: “The Qatar GP was not an easy start to the season, but now we know what to work on – he has declared – the Portimao track is very different to the Lusail track, so it will be interesting to see how the motorbike behaves and the wear of the tyres. Having not scored any points in the Sprint in Qatar, we are in the middle of the table, so we will do our best to move up the rankings this weekend. As always, I will give my 100% and I know the team will tooso let's see what we can do!”
Not all bad
Comments that add to those of his teammate Alex Rinswho did not find only and exclusively negative elements from the test in the Middle East, the first of his career in Yamaha: “Even if the result wasn't the best, our race in Qatar was very useful to extract some data and learn a lot for Portimao – he has declared – It's a shame that in the last 6 laps we paid the price for pushing too hard to recover positions, because then our tires ran out. However, I'm glad we had it a pace similar to that of the other Yamahaswhich means that we are on the same level and that we can work together to improve in the same way.”
#Quartararo #Portimao #Yamaha #study #YZRM1
