Fabio Quartararo says his early German GP crash was caused by simply carrying “too much speed’ with “too much lean angle” as he tried to overtake Danilo Petrucci.
Quartararo, who had qualified second for the race, made a strong start and looked like he would be able to take the lead of the race from pole-man Marc Marquez as they entered Turn 1.
Marquez was able to go around the outside of the Frenchman who had braked slightly early, allowing both Jack Miller and Alex Rins to get past. He then ran wide at the next bend, slipping to seventh behind Petrucci.
The Petronas SRT rider tried to re-pass the Ducati pilot into Turn 3, but carried too much speed and lost the back of his M1 Yamaha, sliding into the gravel trap and into retirement.
The crash was the first in race conditions of his rookie MotoGP season, one he took full responsibility for, but was nonetheless thrilled with the potential he has shown in the first nine races.
“Yeah a mistake,” explained Quartararo.
“Petrucci was on the correct line, I tried to overtake but I made a mistake and tried to use too much lean angle with too much speed and lost the front, but I learned something from today anyway.
“We’ve only crashed once this year in race conditions, but a pole position, five front rows in total and two podiums for my first half of the year are fantastic.
“I’ll be working hard over the summer break to prepare well for the second half of the season.”
Quartararo currently stands as top rookie in the rider’s championship, eighth overall and with 67 points scored, level with LCR Honda rider Cal Crutchlow.
He has scored 15 more points than team-mate Franco Morbidelli- who is in his sophomore MotoGP season- as well as two podiums and three pole positions compared to Morbidelli’s best result of fifth and no pole's so far.
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