Fabio Quatararo records historical pole position in Jerez.
A historical moment indeed during the Red Bull Spanish Grand Prix on Saturday as Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP‘s Fabio Quartararo became the first MotoGP rider to record four straight Jerez pole positions. The Frenchman proved himself the greatest competitor of the season thus far with his quadruple threat. The World Championship leader will be starting from his second pole of 2021 on Sunday alongside Q1 graduate Franco Morbidelli (Petronas Yamaha SRT) and Jack Miller (Ducati Lenovo Team).
“It felt really good today. Jerez is one of the tracks that I really like. I have ridden a Yamaha four times at this track and four times I got pole position. It’s quite an amazing moment, I’m really happy about this. But I will say that today’s Q2 session was a qualifying where I was more on the limit. I thought I was going to crash in Turn 6 and Turn 13. I made a mistake in Turn 6, but ultimately what matters is that we got the pole position today. Tomorrow it’s not going to be easy, but I feel prepared and that I have good potential. The medium and hard tyre are both working well, so we will use the Warm Up tomorrow to decide which one we will use.”
“Fabio was really strong today. The team did a good job. They found a solution for what he was missing yesterday, and that helped him a lot. He tried the soft, medium, and hard tyres, and he’s fast and consistent on all of them, so that gives us many options for tomorrow. Another pole is great for him and for the team, but we are even more pleased with his race pace.
His lap sequence in FP4 is a really positive sign. The same can be said for Maverick. He made good progress in the free practice sessions, especially in FP4. We had hoped for a spot on the first two rows for him, but he was unable to put in the hot lap he had in mind in Q2, with the second rear tyre not providing the grip that was expected. We will look for some final set-up tweaks that we can try in Warm Up and then make our tyre decision tomorrow morning.”