Petronas SRT Yamaha satellite rider Fabio Quartararo called his qualifying lap ‘one of my best ones’, despite already having three pole positions to his name in 2019.

The Frenchman ended qualifying in second place, 0.327 seconds behind pole sitter Marc Marquez after the Spaniard’s stunning lap. Despite having three poles to his name, Quartararo believed that his lap was one of his best performances in qualifying.

“We are still struggling a little bit, but we feel good with the fuel tank on the race pace, and that’s something we usually don’t feel really good, so that’s something really positive,” said the 20-year-old.

“In the qualifying there is always one lap where you go full on the limit, and this was I think one of my best ones, because yesterday I think in FP2 I went 48.0 and we managed to improve quite a lot, so I’m really happy about my lap time in qualifying and my race pace.”

Despite sitting on second place in the grid, Quartararo is perfectly aware of the pace that Marquez has, instead focusing on a top five finish for himself, vouching to fight for a podium.

“When you look his race pace in FP4 it’s difficult to say we can fight with him,” he said. “But actually, our goal is to make a good race.

“I think we have the pace to finish in the top five and will be important the first five laps. I will try my best to stay with these guys and why not be on the podium and fight for a good result.”

Since the summer break and Brno, the Yamaha has been much more competitive, especially in the last two races both in Aragon and last week in Misano. When asked what the biggest differences are and why it’s been so much better the last two rounds, Quartararo didn’t reveal what had changed, instead putting it down to circuit characteristics favouring the M1.

“From the beginning of the year, I’m feeling really good with the bike. From my side I never have a race where I feel really bad,” said Quartararo.

“Some tracks we feel not as good as Misano, where the bike felt almost perfect. But we have some tracks where we are really good and some tracks where we struggle. But in general, I am feeling really good with the bike, and I cannot say nothing bad.”