Doha Grand Prix victor Fabio Quartararo reckons the “aggressive” nature in which he had to fight back to win the race will change the way he approaches racing in future.
Quartararo dropped as low as ninth in the early stages of the second event held at the Losail International Circuit in as many weeks after he and team-mate Maverick Vinales once again suffered slow starts on their Yamaha M1’s.
The Frenchman fought back across the second half of the encounter to challenge Pramac Ducati pair Johann Zarco and pole-man Jorge Martin at the sharp end, Quartararo ultimately prevailing after making strong moves on the pair to cement his place in the lead and eventually take the chequered flag 1.5 seconds clear of Zarco.
Quartararo says the “aggressive” manner in which he had to overtake the Ducati’s in order to build a big enough gap before the main straight to defend from the Desmosedici’s power advantage provided him with “great experience” for future races.
“I made quite a lot of moves during the race that I can’t remember, but it was quite close with Jorge (Martin) because I hit his leg, this was quite a tricky moment with him and also with Johann (Zarco) in Turn 10, but you need to be aggressive,” Quartararo told BT Sport following the Doha GP.
“It felt great (to pull off moves) and it changed a lot my way of thinking for the future, so it’s great to have that kind of experience.”
The now four-time premier class winner added that his first win for the factory Yamaha squad in only his second start with the organisation is a “huge moment for my career”, explaining he owes the “special” success to his team following a whole month of working in Qatar for the opening double-header of the year.
“It’s so special honestly,” continued Quartararo.
“It felt great on the podium, I felt like I had the potential to win the race but I got, not scared but thought I’d better start moving forward because there were four Ducati’s in front of me so I decided to do the best I could and the possibility was there for me to win the race.
“This is a huge moment for my career, my first win for factory Yamaha so It’s a great day for the team and for me.
“I felt like I need to give my team a good excuse to stay here after more than a month here in Qatar, so I owe my win to my entire team.”
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