Fabio Quartararo says he ‘pushed 100%’ for a strong result during the Aragon GP, but a lack of grip from his hard rear tyre prevented him from mounting an attack.
Quartararo qualified a strong second, managing a time just over three-tenths slower than dominant pace-setter Marc Marquez, who had largely dominated the Aragon weekend up to that point.
As has been the case at many races this year, the Frenchman was expected to be the Honda man’s greatest threat-along with factory Yamaha’s Maverick Vinales.
The script was thrown out the window for the race though, and instead the hard compound tyre chosen by the Yamaha riders simply didn’t work during the 22 lap contest-limiting Quartararo to a relatively distant fifth nearly nine seconds down on Marquez as he took the chequered flag.
Ducati pilots Andrea Dovizioso and Jack Miller both decided on the soft compound rear for the race, and were rewarded with second and third on the podium as the hard struggled to last the distance.
All the Yamaha riders elected to use the hard rear as the M1 didn’t get on with the soft during practice, and Petronas SRT man Quartararo admitted that the Japanese factory would need to analyse why this was the case.
“I lacked grip on the left side of the tyre, I felt good in the right-handed corners but I struggled a lot in the left ones so we need to analyse why this was, and why the Ducati’s were able to use the soft as they were really fast,” said Quartararo.
“I think we’ve got work to do to work out why, but I’m also quite happy as our goal was to finish in the top five and we achieved that.
“At the end our pace was good but not quite as good as Misano, so I couldn’t really stay with the leaders.”
Quartararo out-lined that his primary goal across the final five races of the 2019 season was to beat Pramac Racing's Miller for the independent rider’s title, and reckoned he had his work cut out to head the Aussie for the accolade.
“I pushed 100% until the end to stay with them but it was not possible, so I think we need to work hard in Thailand as it is a tough track for the Yamaha, but we are looking forward to the challenge.
“I hope for some strong results in the final races, we are fighting with Jack (Miller) for top independent rider so I hope to have some good fights with him, and hope to arrive in Valencia with a chance.”
