Fabio Quartararo says he is “excited” to head to the final double header events of the year in Valencia, despite struggling for form at the recent Motorland Aragon races.
Quartararo saw his championship advantage slip away across the Aragon double, having dropped behind current points leader Joan Mir following the Aragon Grand Prix after failing to score due to having the wrong front tyre pressures, while the Suzuki man bagged third.
His six-point deficit after that encounter then grew to 14 after last weekend’s Alcaniz GP as a result of managing only eighth after again struggling for speed, Mir taking third once again.
The Petronas SRT pilot reckons the tide could turn once again as he heads to venue he had “a great feeling at last year”, citing a strong November test at the circuit with the new-for-2020 Michelin rear tyre as evidence for a potential turn-around in competitiveness.
“We now head to a track that I like and one I had a great feeling at last year.
“Valencia last year was not so bad, we had a test in November with the new tyre there which was good so I’m excited to go there and see what we can do.”
The Frenchman insisted he wasn’t worried about the 14 point deficit to Mir with only three races remaining, but admitted he wasn’t content with his Alcaniz GP performance after initially believing he had “found some improvements” on the set-up of his M1 during morning warm-up ahead of the race.
“There are three races to go and I’m only 14 points behind and how fast and how much of a difference I can make in just one event, of course I’m not happy with this event but we always struggle during races where the tyre drops,” continued Quartararo.
“I wanted a bit more today (than eighth) because this morning we found some improvements on the bike, but then straight away in the race the feeling was not great.
“Of course we’re in the points, we made a decent race and Maverick (Vinales) was suffering quite a lot too, but we will try to be better at the next race.”
