Fabio Quartararo explains Valencia MotoGP “to completely forget”

Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo says his MotoGP Valencia Grand Prix “was a race to completely forget”, after issues at the start were followed by a crash.

The 2021 world champion launched from sixth on the grid, but issues with his clutch, followed by his front ride height device not disengaging, dropped him outside of the top 10 in the early stages of Sunday’s race.

Fabio Quartararo was on for points, though, before he crashed on lap 24 of 27 at Turn 6 to register his first grand prix DNF since the Aragon Grand Prix.

“Well, the first four corners were a nightmare,” he said.

“I had an issue with the clutch. Then I didn’t disengage the front device until Turn 4.

“So, then I lost I don’t know how many positions. Then our pace was not there. So, a race to completely to forget.”

Quartararo says the crash was a result of him trying to push to catch Tech3 KTM’s Enea Bastianini  ahead of him, though feels he didn’t do “anything strange”.

“Nothing,” he began when asked about what happened in the crash.

“I tried to push a bit more, but I didn’t think I did anything strange.

“But, just lost it in the last moment.

“I wanted to push, I wanted to see also my pace with used tyres.

“I was catching Bastianini a bit, but we were struggling to overtake and I was just trying to be as close as possible.

“But I finished closer to the ground than I did Bastianini.”

Quartararo ends the 2025 season ninth in the standings after scoring 201 points, which is 11 more than team-mates Alex Rins, Miguel Oliveira and Jack Miller combined.

Yamaha also goes into next year as the only manufacturer still with full concessions, after finishing last in the manufacturers’ table.

Honda has moved up a concession ranking after Luca Marini was seventh on Sunday at the Valencia Grand Prix.