Sepang Racing Team Petronas Yamaha rider Fabio Quartararo said he is comfortable on the M1 after a stunning display in qualifying at Mugello, which saw him just miss out on a second pole position of his young MotoGP career.

The Frenchman looked set claim his second pole position after Jerez with two laps in the 1:45’s before anyone else managed to get under the mark. Despite a third lap going even faster, it wasn’t enough to beat out the late lap of Marc Marquez, leaving him starting from the middle of the second row.

Despite missing out on the pole, the 20-year-old said he was comfortable and confident on the M1 going into race day.

“Our speed is not the best, but it’s difficult to have the perfect bike,” said Quartararo.

“We have our positives and negatives, but the bike feels really good and I’m feeling really comfortable. I’m turning really well, so it’s the most important to be fast.

“I think the bike on the turning is really good and feeling so good on the fast corners.

“For sure I will need to push a little bit more on the first lap as it will be a big group, but as soon as the group is a little bit separated, with maybe not more than six riders, I will try to go a little bit more easy on the tyres and save them.”

Despite not securing pole position, there was a similar feeling to Jerez for Quartararo today. Quartararo admitted as much, but was quick to try and avoid putting any unnecessary pressure on himself.

“It’s true that Jerez was different with the pole position and we didn’t expect it,” he said.

“Here we have been strong all weekend, we have been really strong. Our pace is good, but we don’t know at the moment which tyre we will use for tomorrow. We will decide after warm up. We will try one kind of tyre and see which one we will chose for the race.”

At just twenty years old, Quartararo has taken to MotoGP like a duck to water. Many felt the move came too soon for him and now have to eat their own words. Despite making it look easy, the Frenchman insists it’s anything but, with so much to learn before being competitive.

“It’s not easy,” he explained. “I think the Yamaha is one of the easiest bikes in MotoGP, but no MotoGP bike is easy to ride.

“You have many things, which are different to Moto2, the tyres from every track changes. The electronics, the power, you need to, lets say work a lot in every corner.

“But for me, I have made a quick adaptation to MotoGP but it’s not easy to ride.”