This weekend the MotoGP races in France, so it’s something special for Fabio Quartararo. Unfortunately, the Yamaha rider does not have a competitive M1 at his disposal and therefore risks having some difficult days at Le Mans. At the moment the team is working intensely on development, there are some new features to test during the grand prix and it will be interesting to see if they produce encouraging results.
MotoGP Le Mans, Quartararo’s approach
The rider originally from Nice is very happy to race in his country, but he cannot set goals for this GP: “Coming here is always special and unique. It is one of the few tracks on which the party starts as early as Wednesday. We will definitely try some of the things used in the tests. There won’t be a huge difference, but we will use pieces already tested in Jerez. Expectations are hard to set, we will do our best“.
Quartararo confirmed that he will try the new chassis already tested in Jerez: “We will have a new chassis. The swingarm was on the plan, but we won’t try it here. After the Le Mans race we will do a test at Mugello and then we will try it there“.
Fabio and the 2027 regulation
The Monster Energy Yamaha team rider was also asked about the future MotoGP regulations and believes that they will not produce real revolutions on the track: “There’s a lot of time left. I think removing the devices that regulate the height of the bike is important. I don’t think there will be a big change on the aerodynamic level and also with the lowering of the displacement. I don’t think there will be too much difference in terms of speed“.
The M1 is faster than the Honda RC213V on the straight, but Quartararo is still not satisfied with his bike in its current state: “Being faster is always an advantage normally. But I think this advantage makes us lose many of our strengths. Our engine has changed a lot compared to last year and this has also changed the identity of the bike. The cornering ability and grip were much better in the past. We have grown in speed on the straights, but we are losing speed in the corners. We need to carefully analyze what needs to be done for the future“.
Quartararo and the future with Yamaha
He also returned to the official MotoGP website to talk about the contract renewal signed in recent weeks, confirming the reasons that pushed him not to change: “The decision wasn’t easy, but it was wrong to leave when you still believe in the project. I believe a lot in Yamaha and in myself, I know we will be back. My choice is based on the work done from January to today, I’m seeing something I hadn’t seen in the past two years. There is a revolution in the team, a different mentality. We work a lot more on the bike setup and there are new people who have arrived at Yamaha. We are not focused on results, but on development necessary to have a better bike in the second half of the season and next year. The Japanese have totally changed their approach, they are more aggressive and I’m happy“.
Quartararo is confident, in his opinion the Iwata company is moving in the right direction to return to success in MotoGP, even if it finds itself having to suffer in 2024: “The team is strong, but we are missing some things to fight for the top positions. Honestly, this year is going to be very difficult. I don’t expect to fight for podiums and victories. When you have three-four years with the same base and you completely change the bike, you have to learn and you need to adapt the new mentality to the new bike and the new setting. I know that the work we are doing is to be faster in the coming years. At Yamaha they believe in me to grow the project and return to winning. We did it a few years ago and I think we can do it again“.
Photo: Yamaha MotoGP
