The Italian, in addition to being one of the most competitive riders in Moto2, has a very close relationship with Fabio Quartararo, even more so since he moved to Andorra. Now that it has been confirmed that Yamaha will have its own satellite team again, having snatched Pramac from Ducati, the identity of the two riders who will compete for Paolo Campinoti’s team remains to be seen.
Although it has yet to be announced, Miguel Oliveira is set to be the front man, while for the second M1 Pramac and Yamaha are looking for a youngster to launch. Although Quartararo is obviously not the one who will make the decision, his opinion is important, as is the influence of Prima, the team’s main sponsor, which is Italian. While Sergio Garcia was initially indicated as the main candidate to take over, Arbolino has come into play in recent weeks, although his results have not been as impressive as in previous seasons: he has yet to score a podium and his best result came in Assen, where he finished sixth.
“Tony Arbolino is ready for MotoGP, and I’m not saying this because he’s my friend. This year hasn’t been easy for him, I don’t know if it’s because of the tyres or how they’re working with him. But in the past he’s been able to get a lot of podiums,” Quartararo said Thursday at Silverstone, where the World Championship resumes this weekend after the holiday break.
“Tony’s case is like mine: I had never won two races in a row, nor had I been on the podium, and when I arrived in MotoGP I was immediately fast. Now he lives very close to me and I know how hard he is working,” added the Frenchman.
The concessions that Yamaha and Honda enjoy should make the difference after the break, especially in terms of the engine, one of the elements on which both brands are working the most. Even knowing that the engineers and technicians have not stopped, Quartararo cannot predict how much the M1 has improved until the end of the first day of testing on Friday.
“Yamaha have done some things in this break, but until you put everything on the track you don’t know where you are. The goal for tomorrow is to go straight into Q2, and if we don’t do that Yamaha won’t have done enough,” reflected the 2021 World Champion, who is 15th in the standings and still looking for his first podium of the season.
Regarding the announcement of the renewal of Alex Rins, his current teammate, for another two seasons, the boy from Nice called it “great news” in that stability plan that Yamaha is looking for. “I think Alex did a good job. His comments were very similar to mine, even if we have a very different riding style,” he said.
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