Quartararo plays down arm pump fears for Sachsenring

Fabio Quartararo is confident his arm pump pain won’t impact his German MotoGP weekend due to Sachsenring’s circuit characteristics as he hopes to use the strengths of his Petronas Yamaha package at a track he hasn’t favoured in the past.

The rookie MotoGP rider has claimed consecutive pole positions and podium finishes heading into the German round, fresh from undergoing arm pump surgery in the break between the Italian and Calatan races, but has needed to measure his fitness post-surgery requiring ice packs on his right forearm after each session.

After looking visibly uncomfortable at the end of the Assen MotoGP, where he claimed third place, Quartararo has played down concerns over the injury due to Sachsenring’s track characteristics.

“After Barcelona I said okay we will arrive 100% at Assen because I had nothing [left] in Barcelona. We didn’t arrive 100% but in the race I was having a rest on the left corners [at Assen],” Quartararo said. “Sachsenring is all about left corners so I think it will be really great for us physically for our arm and I am really looking forward to being in Germany and having five days of rest.”

11 out of 14 corners at Sachsenring are left-handers which should ease the stress on Quartararo’s injury, but the track remains a challenge in the French rider’s eyes given his poor record during his Moto2 and Moto3 days. Last year’s ninth place in the Moto2 race marks his best showing at Sachsenring having charged up from 18th place on the starting grid.

“Sachsenring is a circuit that can be really good for us,” he said. “It isn’t my favourite circuit, but with the physical condition that I’m in it can be a good track for us – and it’s also been a good circuit for the Yamaha YZR-M1 too.”

If Quartararo can reach the rostrum in Germany, he will become the first MotoGP rookie to take three consecutive podiums since Marc Marquez’s dominant maiden campaign in 2013 when he stormed to the world title.