Fabio Quartararo in ‘peak condition’, but can he halt Bagnaia at Misano MotoGP?
Quartararo rebuilt h👍is world championship lead to 32 points over Aprilia’s Espargaro with a brilliant second place, amidst the Ducatis, in Austria.
But while Bagnaia is still 44 points adrift of Quartararo, he has cut 47 points from the Y🐻amaha star’s lead 🌠over the last three events.
Quartararo also hasn’t beaten the Italia𝄹n in races they have both finis🥃hed, since the Portuguese round in April.
With s💎even rounds and 175 poin𝔍ts still to go, Quartararo needs to halt Bagnaia’s advance sooner rather than later if he is to keep the Italian at arm’s length.
On paper, both head into this weekend꧋’s Misano round wit🍬h two podiums from their last five races at the track.
But the freshest memories favour Quartararo,🌜 who won his first MotoGP title when Bagnaia fell from the lead in🎃 last October’s Emilia Romagna round.
“The race in Austria was really tough but rewarding. That second place was great for the champ🍰ionship because we left one of our more challenging circuits with an extended lead [over Espargaro],” Quartararo said.
“I’m happy we are riding in Misano this weekend. Of cꦬourse, I have still strong memories o💙f winning the title here last year, but we have to focus on this year‘s championship.
“We aಞre starting the final third of the season now, which is alwa💞ys tough, so we need to focus and work hard.
“I’ve been training pretty much non-stop to assure that I‘m in peak condition. I know that my team ওare also working as hard as they can, so I think we can get a good result again.”
Team director Massimo Meregalli added that there will be less pressure on🧔 their shoulders compared to last year.
“This ♒time we arrive her🍎e with a lot less pressure on our shoulders than during the 2021 Emilia-Romagna GP when the title was in reach,” he said. “The battle at the top of the leader board is very close, like last year, but we can have a more regular GP weekend this time, so that‘s what we are looking forward to.
“Fabio enjoys riding here, and so does Franky. This track has been significant to both of their careers in the past, and we all feel highly motivated to do a good jܫob again this weekend. We just hope that the riding conditions remain dry or at least consistent through🦂out these three days.”
Morbidelli: Keep tweaking, keep improving
Team-mate Franco Morbidel🍬li is the next best Yamaha rider after Quartararo, but just❀ 19th in the world championship.
The Italian returns to the scene of his grand prix debut (2013) and first MotoGP victory (2020) still without a dry top-ten finish this season, but is confident he is getting g🧜radually closer.
“After the improved speed on the bike in Spielberg, I'm really looking forward to keeping on working in that direction, keep tweaking, and keep improving this week and🎃 throughout next week [at the test],” he said.
“The San Marino GP is my home race, and also that♈ of the team in a way, so that adds an extra nice feeling to the event. I like Misano a lot, it‘s a nice track, and I look forward to completing a lot of laps here this race🌳 weekend and also during the Misano Test.”
Peter has been in the paddock for 20 years and has seen Valentino Rossi come and go. He is at the forefront of the Suzuki exit story and Marc Marquez’s injury iss🐟ues.
