Quartararo boosted by year-old Yamaha set-up in Catalan MotoGP race

The Yamaha rider rose from 18th on the grid to finish seventh in last Sunday’s grand prix at Barcelona, marking his best main race finish since he achieved the same result at the French GP.

Having struggled all weekend for form at a venue where he won in 2022, Quartararo elected to revert to the settings he used last year, which allowed him to have what he considered “a great pace”.

“For me, it was a good day, especially we go back to last year’s bike’s base in warm-up,” he said.

“It was pretty good, the pace was there. And we decided to follow this for the race and it was a bit better.

“I could make a great pace and maintain a 10s gap to the front guy, [in the sprint] we finished within half a lap, so 17s.

“So, I think [Sunday] was not too bad. Not really the first time, but at this track on Friday and Saturday basically every exit on track I was doing with a different bike, different set-up.

“And this morning [on Sunday] we decided to go with last year’s base and if my feeling was better we’d use it for the race, and I think it was a good step.”

Fabio Quartararo, Yamaha Factory Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Part of that set-up change included going back to the older aerodynamic fairing Yamaha had been using at the start of the year.

While Quartararo said he is likely to return to the new version for the San Marino GP next week, he noted being able to compare both was good for future development ahead of a crucial test next Monday.

“Having big wings means also you have to use more power, and having the smaller wings was a good idea,” said Quartararo.

“At Misano, I think we will go back to the big wings.

“But I think it was great to compare also on the same track the aero package to be sure and have more information about how it’s working on braking, on the lean angle, on the edge.”