iM Cubaholic EP.13: K-Speed’s Latest Addition, the K-Speed CT125 Combat!
MotoGP’s return at Jerez had a good start for Fabio Quartararo with his first-ever MotoGP win last weekend. Moving on, PETRONAS Yamaha SRT’s Fabio Quartararo extends his lead in the championship standings with another MotoGP win yesterday. On the other hand, unfortunately, team-mate Morbidelli was forced to retire from yesterday’s race after mechanical issues while fighting for podium positions.
Fabio Quartararo made no mistakes with every lap, he continued to extend the gap to the rest of the field from the start. Although, the race behind was pressuring up the Frenchman saw none as he was in a race of his own out front. Despite slowing down on the final lap to celebrate with the team, Fabio finished 4.495 sec ahead of Maverick Viñales and Valentino Rossi, who helped him make it to a Yamaha podium lockout; the first one since Phillip Island back in 2014. Aside from this, Fabio’s second win places PETRONAS Yamaha SRT at the top of the Team’s Championship.
On the other hand, it was a heartbreak for team-mate Morbidelli. Franco Morbidelli was having a good race and was in contenting for a podium place, however, with nine laps left to go, Franco’s Yamaha YZR-M1 experienced technical issues and he was forced to retire from the race.
It was a tough race. To complete 25 laps in front in these temperatures made it the hardest race of my life! My hands and feet were so hot and there was just no air to cool you down. I felt really good on the bike though. Even though we are at the same circuit as last week, the conditions are different and we had to adapt so quickly to this. The first time I saw the gap to Valentino [Rossi] was 0.6secs, I thought that it was time to push. Then on one lap I looked back in Turn 6 and couldn’t believe the advantage that I had pulled out.
At this point, I knew I had to keep calm and just finish the race. I’m so happy to have another victory, especially in a race as tough as this one. It was also amazing to be on the podium with Valentino because he has been my idol for so long. I just want to say a massive thanks to my team, Yamaha, partners, my family, my friends, my manager and all the fans for their support.
I didn’t have a great start and so I had to fight my way back through the pack, but I was able to do so quite comfortably. I was feeling great on the bike, the feeling was amazing and I thought it was a great opportunity to get an excellent result, maybe even the podium. We had a really good race pace. Then the mechanical failure happened and the bike stopped, but that’s racing. It happens sometimes. We don’t know what caused the problem, but the team and Yamaha engineers are looking into it. Now we take the positives from this weekend and the previous one, where we had consistent race pace, and focus our energies on Brno.