Quartararo feels the limit, ready to win?
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Fastest on both days of the recent Misano test, Fabio Quartararo carried that form into the MotoGP event, with first and second places on the free practice timesheets.That was despite already low circuit grip levels dropping once again for the start of the San Marino Grand Prix weekend.”I’m slower than at the test, but a lot of riders are slower. So the conditions of the track are not the best,” said the French rookie.Factory Yamaha’s Maverick Vinales was the only rider quicker than Quartararo (by just 0.057s) on Friday, with many predicting the M1 will be the bike to beat in the race.”Our bike suits this track really well so for sure if one of the Yamaha riders wins this race it will be really great because this year [only] Maverick has won one,” Quartararo said.But after three podiums already this season, some in Quartararo’s team feel he is ready to take a race win. Does he agree?”It depends on the circumstance. I think to win the first race we need to be 100 percent of everything: A good position in qualifying, good pace, good start. Then, why not?” Quartararo replied.”I think we need to learn every time more about the rear tyre, but I think we are quite fast. So I think we are not fully ready but, if we have the opportunity, almost [ready to win].”Quartararo saved several big front-end moments on Friday but, rather than knocking his confidence, he called the incidents ‘positive’ since he was able to feel what was happening and avoid a fall.”Today I make many small moments with the front and the positive things is that we can feel when we are losing the front; it’s not just really aggressive and I ,” he said. “So today I was pushing to try to brake really hard and feel the limit on the front. I felt it so that’s something really great. We don’t have grip on the track, but I feel the limit.”The 20-year-old is also revelling in what he says is a healthy competition between the Yamaha riders, amid reports that Valentino Rossi feels Quartararo has given them all a wake-up call.”Well I think every rider… when I see Franco in front, I want to be ahead of him and I think all the Yamahas have the same spirit,” Quartararo responded. “I think it’s always nice to have someone to push your limits and, yes, I think it’s quite nice that we have in our mind we all look to see who is the first Yamaha. That’s quite a funny story, because for sure all four riders are thinking the same.””4Rossi was fourth fastest and Morbidelli fifth, with world champion Marc Marquez in third for Honda.
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