Fabio Quartararo says his “funny overtake” on Francesco Bagnaia in the early stages of the Dutch TT was key to him dominating en-route to his fourth victory of the year.
Quartararo made a good start to move into the lead at Turn 1, though Bagnaia utilised the power of his Ducati to snatch away the lead by the end of the opening tour.
The Yamaha racer struggled to find a way past across the first half-a-dozen circulations, Quartararo enjoying a significant pace advantage through the fast sweepers that make up the second half of the Assen venue though Bagnaia’s Desmosedici could keep him at bay thanks to a great defensive show.
Having already passed him twice at the final chicane before being re-overtaken on the run to Turn 1, Quartararo eventually managed to drive clean underneath the Italian at Turn 6 thanks to the greater edge-grip afforded to him by his M1, allowing him to pull far enough ahead through the third and fourth sectors before the start/finish stretch to not have to worry about a counter-attack from the Desmosedici.
The series leader thereafter pulled out a 4.2 second lead by the time pole-sitting team-mate Maverick Vinales had moved into second after Bagnaia received a long-lap punishment for a track limits infringement, a gap he controlled across the rest of the contest on his way to a fourth success of the season.
Quartararo praised Baganaia’s defensive ride early on as “amazing”, though accepted he was lucky to escape a “scary” moment in which he made contact with the Ducati while trying to go around the outside at Turn 12.
“It was the toughest race (this year) to be honest, I’m really happy because I had some issues with my back and I was struggling a little bit,” explained Quartararo.
“I think the summer break is coming at the best moment where I can take care of my body and recover so that I can arrive at the next races in the best way possible, I’m feeling super great so it is the perfect time to have a rest and enjoy the 25 points I got here at Assen.
“He (Francesco Bagnaia) did an amazing job, it is already difficult to overtake the Ducati’s but with him defending so much it was nearly impossible, in sector 1 I was much faster but he was defending perfectly.
“But then when as soon as we get to Turn 6 it’s like they have a rocket launcher or something, or may be two engines because he was able to pull away by like 20 or 25 meters so I couldn’t do anything.
“At Turn 12 at one point I hit his bike a little which was a bit scary because you are doing like 250 km/h, but then I decided to overtake before and not after (this section), and I got that funny overtake that I did not expect.
“I could have gone a little bit faster but I was not feeling so great with the bike and also this is a really physical track so I preferred to stay calm because I knew I had four seconds over Maverick (Vinales), but then I made two massive mistakes so I had to push a little bit to extend the gap.
“Then I was able to keep the lead consistent which was just what we needed, I finished in the perfect way but had a lot of shaking out of Turn 12 and a massive moment out of Turn 6, but when I look at the 25 points I’m very happy.”
Quartararo says his impressive opening half of 2021, in which he has scored a total of four wins and opened up a 34 point lead at the head of the riders standings, is “one of the best moments of my career”, declaring that he is enjoying a “perfect season” so far.
“I think it’s one of the best moments of my career (first half of 2021), in Jerez it was not my moment with the arm pump and then in Barcelona with the leathers but if you take out these two races without the bad luck we are having a perfect season,” continued the now seven-time premier class race winner.
“As a team we are also so calm, even at the Sachsenring where the bike was not working that well we finished third so this means we are already at the top, and we hope to keep going in this direction.”
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