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Being first in the standings at the halfway point of the championship with a considerable advantage is certainly the perfect representation of Fabio Quartararo's competitive growth and awareness. Being the only Yamaha rider apparently able to bend the bike to his will on every circuit, even in unfavourable conditions, is perhaps the French rider's main strength. Combined with a consistency of results that many of his rivals probably envy.
Fabio has never hidden the difficulties of having to compete against eight Ducatis, especially during qualifying, but the consistency of his results in the race seems to make that difficulty barely visible for the moment. Fabio set the second best time today in qualifying, squeezed between the Ducatis of Bagnaia and Martin, and given his propensity to escape in the race, expectations remain high for the Yamaha rider.
Today you found yourself again alone facing Ducati, and you managed to get a precious front row anyway.
“I’m getting used to fighting with the Italian bikes, always in qualifying it’s more complicated than in the previous year to make great qualifyings – declared Fabio - I was really on the limit, and on the next lap I wanted to try but I knew it was going to be a little bit worse. Today, the front row was the target."
Tell us about that stunt you pulled at turn 5 on the last lap… You hung on to the bike for a moment and managed to recover. Furthermore, Aleix, your direct rival in the championship, will start from the second row: will we see you take off here in Assen too and further increase the gap before the summer break?
“I think that moment was a little bit strange because it was not really a moment. I just slid and I lost my footing. As for the championship, at the moment I’m only focussing on tomorrow's race, the championship is only halfway through and I think there is more than one rival with the potential to fight for victories and for the title. My main goal for tomorrow will be to try to go home with a good result after the race. "
According to Aleix, the bikes have not changed in a revolutionary way from last season. Do you agree? What have you improved in as a rider?
"Our bike is very similar to last year's, it's true, but I was amazed to be able to improve by a few tenths compared to the past. I just think about racing, I'm very focused, and even if we have to admit I have some difficulties compared to some rivals, I believe we are bringing home some excellent results so the goal is to continue in this direction. "
Is there a chance to see you run away like at the Sachsenring?
"This circuit is very different from others like Sachsenring or Montmelò. Assen is a physically demanding circuit, as were the two previous circuits, but here the tire wear is not so drastic and therefore the management will not be as important a factor, so it is difficult to make predictions, looking at the FP4 data from that point of view we have no problems, but compared to other circuits the tire management will be different so it is not certain that it will be possible to get away in the last laps. At the moment, however, the goal is not to get away, but if the opportunity arose, obviously I would take advantage of it. "
So if tire management isn't a limit, will the rider himself be the limit? Or is there more?
"I will push 100% from the first lap to the last. Maybe I will need the whole five weeks holiday to recover – Fabio joked - For me, this track is one of the most physical on the calendar and we will all be in the same situation tomorrow."
What was the most important result in terms of working for Sunday's race? Is it better to be first in qualifying or to work on the race pace?
"One session is always used to work on race pace and one for speed in qualifying. In FP4, the position is not so much important as working productively for the race, you can also finish fifth or tenth and still do a better job than others, but obviously second place in qualifying is an excellent result ".
