Fabio Quartararo said he "tried everything" to beat Marc Marquez to his first ever premier class victory in the Thailand Grand Prix.
The Petronas SRT rider ultimately crossed the line a close second-just 0.171 behind Marquez-after losing out to the Honda man on the run down to Turn 2 on the final lap having led 25 laps of the 26 tour encounter.
He attempted to dive back past Marquez at the final turn, but ran slightly too wide and allowed the newly crowned champion back through to secure victory.
The race was an almost like-for-like copy of the Misano contest last month, where Marquez shadowed Quartararo for most of the way and passed him on the final tour to claim the spoils.
Quartararo reiterated after the race that he was “proud” to secure another podium result in what continues to be a stand-out rookie year.
“I tried everything,” said Quartararo.
“The pace was really fast, I think my worst lap was a 31.5 which is still really fast, and in the last lap I had an opportunity to try and overtake him (Marquez) but with the power of the Honda he pulled quite a few meters after Turn 11 so it was really hard to attack him.
“Anyway, I said ‘I’ll try’ because if not I wouldn’t be able to go home happy I don’t attempt the move so I tried everything to stop the bike and unfortunately we are second.
“We can be proud, the team is doing a really great job with Yamaha so thanks a lot to them.
“I knew that I would not be able to make a gap to Marc, I think the biggest gap was 0.7 and I was pushing really hard, of course I could have gone harder but I would have destroyed the tyres before the end of the race.
“In the end I was really happy because my tyres were in good condition, I managed the rear really well so I was able to fight until the end.”
Quartararo and his new-for-2019 Petronas-backed Sprinta Racing Team have proven to be consistent threats for the established front runners, with the Frenchman in particular shining for the Malaysian squad.
He has secured four pole positions to go along with his five rostrum finishes to sit seventh in the riders standings with four rounds remaining, just 25 points behind third-placed Alex Rins.
Quartararo came into his maiden premier class campaign having scored just a sole win across four seasons competing in Moto3 and Moto2, coming at Barcelona last year while competing with the Speed Up team in the intermediate class.
