Quartararo: Pole lap and pushing over the limit caused crash

Fabio Quartararo says having claimed provisional pole position and then looking to go even faster resulted in his late qualifying crash as he continues to star during his rookie MotoGP campaign.

The Petronas Yamaha rider produced a 1m 29.719s to set a new lap record at the Chang International Circuit with just under three minutes to go in Q2 for the Thailand MotoGP but on his final lap he low-sided off at Turn 5.

His earlier effort was enough to keep hold of his fourth pole position of the season, beating factory Yamaha’s Maverick Vinales by 0.106s, as he became the third rider in the session to go down at Turn 5 following Valentino Rossi and Marc Marquez.

Quartararo held his hands up at pushing beyond the grip limits with his Petronas Yamaha and explained the incident came together after feeling he had gone close to sealing pole position with his earlier lap record.

“The first run was really good and then I was really surprised about making a 1m 29s and on my second lap I tried to push at my maximum,” Quartararo said. “I knew that the 1m 29.7s would be at the front so that was our goal but I tried to push even more but it was not possible as I crashed in Turn 5. Overall it is really good, FP4 we had a good pace so I am really looking forward to the race.

“Unfortunately, we didn’t get laps in the dry in FP3 but I am really happy overall as our pace is a bit far from Marc but we will try in the race to stay with him.”

Quartararo has also been equipped with “a little more RPM” with his older specification Petronas Yamaha which was noticeable as the French rider matched the fellow Yamahas in the speed traps at the Thai track having been down on top speed last time out at Aragon.

The MotoGP rookie believes Marquez has the strongest race pace going off the practice times, with the Repsol Honda rider also winning in Buriram 12 months ago, but with the Spaniard looking to seal the 2019 riders’ world title this weekend Quartararo doesn’t expect it to change his own approach for the race.

“I give my 100% in every race so tomorrow it will be the same for me,” he said. “Looking at the pace he is a lot faster than us but we know that in the races it is different.

“We will try to stay with him but for us it is the same. If I am there with him we will try everything to fight with him like in Misano.”