Quartararo “a little better” with Yamaha RPM increase

Fabio Quartararo says being given an RPM boost with his Petronas Yamaha provided him with a marginal gain at the Thailand MotoGP.

Team manager Wilco Zeelenberg confirmed the MotoGP rookie has been given extra RPM for the final five rounds of the season, starting in Thailand, to aid his fight against rivals with higher horsepower to rely on.

The Frenchman’s specification of M1 includes the 2019 engine but only five available for the season rather than a full seven allocated to his fellow Yamaha riders Franco Morbidelli, Maverick Vinales and Valentino Rossi.

Fewer engine changes had forced a suspected drop of 500RPM to ensure each of Quartararo's engines would last longer, but with the 20-year-old currently on his fourth engine the RPM increase has been introduced.

With Quartararo matching the top speeds of the rest of the Yamaha riders at the Chang International Circuit, the Frenchman felt the revs boost came as a help across both his single-lap speed and a race distance.

Quartararo secured pole position at the Thailand MotoGP, his fourth of the season, before taking on Marquez in a last-lap battle for victory only to narrowly miss out by 0.171s at the chequered flag.

“In FP2 when I was behind Rins I felt it was a little bit better but more than one lap it was the consistency doing 26 laps,” Quartararo said.

“I was alone, well there was nobody in front [in the race], so it was really difficult to judge but for 26 laps it was a little bit on the small straight and a little bit on the back straight so it helps.

“It is a track that was already really good for Yamaha but we didn’t expect to be this good because I think the top speed of the Honda improved a lot this year. I am really happy about this result and finish less than 0.2s from victory.”

Quartararo’s fifth podium of the season has moved him to just two points behind Rossi in the overall MotoGP riders’ standings in a fight for sixth place. The Petronas Yamaha rider leads the Independents’ standings by 24 points from Pramac Ducati’s Jack Miller.