Monster Energy Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo returned to MotoGP action at Le Mans by securing second place in Friday’s FP2.
Quartararo initially aimed to use FP1 to get back up to speed following last week‘s arm pump surgery but with treacherous track conditions throughout the morning, the Frenchman chose to steadily build up his speed as the day unfolded. Working on his bike‘s wet set-up he finished the session in 16th place, 3.634s from the front with a best time of 1’41.641.
A dry afternoon allowed the home hero to set out on slick tyres as FP2 got going, and with threatening black clouds overhead he was keen to get in a solid banker to secure a spot inside the combined top 10. Continuing to perfect his M1’s dry set-up and despite succumbing to the Bugatti circuit’s perilous turn three, he topped the timesheets on five separate occasions.
A final push in the last minutes of the session provided his best time of the day - a 1’31.842 - leaving him second overall after his fellow countryman, Johann Zarco, beat him to the top spot by 0.095s on the penultimate lap.
“The arm was a little bit strange, but it feels okay” Quartararo explained after the action concluded.
“I was a little bit more anxious in FP2 because everyone was with new tyres and pushing straight away because maybe it was going to rain. It was a good lap-time but that was not the time attack, just that the tyre was new so I was quite impressed with my lap-time. I’m happy because the arm feels good, a little bit strange but it’s okay.
“The dry conditions were really good but to warm up the tyre here is a total disaster for everyone. Normally I’m quite good at it but I couldn’t really reach a good point. It’s not easy. In the wet, we have a good feeling but we’re missing some speed. We need to improve in a few corners to be inside the top 10 in the wet.
“In FP2, I could have done a better time, but there was a yellow flag on my fast lap. I lost the front at one point - I thought I could save it, but I lost it anyway. We saw many riders crash on cold tyres. The conditions are tricky and it’s tough to get heat into the tyres, especially coming out of pit lane - we stay on 60 km/h for too long - we need to see if it can be done slightly different” the Frenchman explained before focusing on riding at home.
“It’s special to see two French riders at the top here” Quartararo continued. “It’s not that we have six or seven French riders and we see two on top, it’s that we are two, and we are both on top. I think it’s a great feeling for France, [especially as] we show our potential with two different bikes.”
