Fabio Quartararo ‘missed a bit of everything’ in Portugal MotoGP

Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo says he ‘missed a bit of everything’ as he battled hard to hold onto a top six finish in the MotoGP Portuguese Grand Prix.

The 2021 world champion came through Q1 in qualifying on Saturday to put his factory Yamaha onto the back of the front row.

He was able to convert this to a comfortable fourth in the sprint, but came under a bigger challenge in the grand prix as he fought with Fermin Aldeguer, Brad Binder and Johann Zarco.

Fabio Quartararo was powerless to stop Aldeguer and Binder coming through, but managed to hold onto sixth at the chequered flag.

The Frenchman admits he was “not exactly managing” his tyres as he pushed across the 25 laps, but “missed” in several areas on his Yamaha.

“I was pushing from lap one until the end, of course, keeping in mind to not burn through the tyres,” he said.

“But I was not exactly managing the tyres either.

“It was a tough one, but I think we did a great job. This was the maximum that we could do with what we have.

“We are working hard on improving. I think it was nice to turn the Friday we had into an acceptable result on Saturday and Sunday.

“We missed the top speed, stability, grip, and of course, electronics. A bit of everything that could have made it a bit better.”

With Raul Fernandez missing the Portuguese Grand Prix following a crash in FP1, Quartararo is now locked into the top nine in the standings with one round to go.

He has a five-point deficit to rookie of the year Fermin Aldeguer, and a slender opportunity of getting as high as seventh in the standings with a 29-point gap to Franco Morbidelli.

This marks Quartararo’s best championship position since he was runner-up in the standings in 2022 to Pecco Bagnaia.