It took him only four rounds to become the youngest rider to score a MotoGP pole position but already Fabio Quartararo is celebrating multiple Saturday ‘wins’ after qualifying quickest again for the Catalunya MotoGP.
However, what makes this performance arguably more impressive is the fact he has achieved it less than two weeks’ after going under the knife to help with arm pump having foreseen it becoming a more detrimental issue deeper into the season.
Though Quartararo plays down the effect of the surgery by insisting the stitches in his arm simply feel ‘strange’, he does reveal he will be heading into race day with medication having avoided using any on Friday and Saturday.
“Physically we didn’t take any medication yesterday or today, but tomorrow we will take something. We didn’t change anything on the bike, FP1 was quite a strange feeling. I still have the stitches, so I don’t feel pain but I have a strange feeling on my arm. This is not an injury, it is something we need to do for the next races. It is just a matter of getting used to it.”
Another superb single lap effort from Quartararo, who’s practice and qualifying form on the Petronas SRT Yamaha has become increasingly familiar since that pole in Jerez, the young Frenchman – who won the Moto2 race in Catalunya last year – says he now wants to deliver on race day having not finished higher than seventh as yet.
“We will try to make a good start because this year I haven’t gained one position in all of the six races, so we will hope to stay in this position and not lose a lot of positions.
“For sure this pole position is special, it is one of my favourites tracks. I have good memories so after 11 days after surgery, I didn’t know how my condition would be at this track. I’m very happy.”
Though it made no difference to the final result, Quartararo did suffer one disappointment today after slipping off his M1 in FP3, remarkably the very first time – including testing – he has ever dropped a MotoGP bike.
