Quartararo confident after Marquez duel, not afraid of Aragon straight

Fabio Quartararo took the victory fight to Marc Marquez despite having the lowest average top speed of any rider in Sunday's Misano MotoGP race.

The only bikes slower than a Yamaha in a straight-line at Misano (see below) were the Tech3 KTMs - and Quartararo has 500rpm less than the other, factory-spec, M1s.

Quartararo confident after Marquez duel, not afraid of Aragon straight

Fabio Quartararo took the victory fight to Marc Marquez despite having the lowest average top speed of any rider in Sunday's Misano MotoGP race.

The only bikes slower than a Yamaha in a straight-line at Misano (see below) were the Tech3 KTMs - and Quartararo has 500rpm less than the other, factory-spec, M1s.

But having also been on the podium at the power-hungry Red Bull Ring, the Petronas Yamaha rider feels he has little to fear from the long back straight at Aragon this weekend.

“Fighting with Marc at Misano means that I’m going to Aragon with a lot of confidence," said Quartararo, who led for 23 laps and repassed the reigning champion once during their final lap showdown.

"The long straights aren’t too much of a problem for us, because we showed at the Red Bull Ring and at Misano that as long as you make a good start and five strong laps at the beginning you can be in the fight.

"The first target will be to be on the front row again, because we need to ensure a good start, and then we’ll try and do our best as always.”

Quartararo is now seventh and the leading satellite rider in the world championship, directly behind factory Yamaha riders Maverick Vinales and Valentino Rossi.

Quartararo confident after Marquez duel, not afraid of Aragon straight

Team-mate Franco Morbidelli is tenth overall. The Italian matched his MotoGP best of fifth at Misano and heads to Aragon with a strong past record at the Spanish track.

“I’m feeling very good on the bike at the minute and I’ve had two great performances at Silverstone and Misano, so we’re arriving with a lot of trust in ourselves," he said.

"We’re hoping that the level will be similar to how it was last weekend even though there is a long straight at Aragon, because we’ve found something with the corner speed that’s enabling us to be faster.

"I won there in 2017 in Moto2, I was on the podium the season before and last year I was very fast, so it’s somewhere where I already have good memories.”

Read More