“I was scared Franco and Valentino would go away,” he said. “I wanted to catch them too fast, I was too excited. There were 19 laps to go but I was riding like it was the last lap. I had the pace, I just need to be more relaxed on the bike.”
Petronas Yamaha team manager Wilco Zeelenberg has noticed the change in Quartararo this year. Last season the former Moto2 winner was the rookie with nothing to lose. This year he’s still a raw, young talent, but he’s got everything to lose.
“These boys grow up and suddenly they understand they have the chance to win the world title,” said Zeelenberg. “The mentality of enjoying racing, enjoying life and playing around is completely different from trying to win the world championship. You have to be very motivated and very determined in what you do, what you say, everything, so it’s a big change for a young guy.”
Zeelenberg only has one concern when he analyses the Yamaha’s chances at the last eight races.
“We know we have the speed to win at Misano. Then Barcelona and Le Mans shouldn’t be a problem for us – the past tells us we are good at those tracks, so I don’t see us losing places or our championship chance there.
“But Aragon is a different story – I don’t see us beating Ducati there, so that’s somewhere that we could lose points. But it all depends on how much grip we have and the tyres that Michelin bring. We know we don’t have the speed for the long straight, but if they bring a tyre that doesn’t really suit our bike, like they did in Austria, then we will have double trouble and we could easily lose many points because there are so many good bikes and tyres now
“I really believed Dovizioso would win both races in Austria, but he finished fifth in the second race, so I think he made a bigger error than we did.” [Zeelenberg is referring to Ducati’s error at the Styrian GP, when they used a too-low rear-tyre pressure.)
In November MotoGP stays in Spain for two races at Valencia and the Portimāo season finale on November 22.
Mir has scored more points than anyone at the last three races
Suzuki
Both tracks are similar in character – their layouts are dominated by a long series of interlinked low-to-medium speed corners and end with super-fast straights. The biggest difference is that Valencia is mostly flat, while Portimāo is an undulating roller coaster.
Last year at Valencia Quartararo chased home Márquez, beating Miller and Dovizioso into third and fourth. In theory Yamaha should have the upper hand at both tracks, because the speed they can carry through the serpentine sections should allow them to make a big enough gap to hold their position on the long start/finish straights.
Zeelenberg is quietly confident about the final tracks but knows that the late-autumn weather could play a big part in deciding the title.
“Fabio likes Valencia and the track shouldn’t be a big problem. When you have a track that flows, where you can keep the momentum, it’s good for the Yamaha. True, Valencia has got quite a long straight, but if you exit well onto the straight then it’s not always easy to be overtaken.
“But what will the weather be like? It could be cold, it could be wet, and we can’t say we have the best bike for the rain because Ducati has better grip in the wet. So it is far from done!
Joan Mir has yet to win a race but he scored more points than anyone at the last three rounds
“The big thing at Portimāo will be keeping the front wheel on the ground and the amount of power we can use. The good thing is that our controllability and throttle connection are good for twisty tracks.”
Ducati and Yamaha riders may hold the top three positions in the world championship, but neither Dovizioso, Quartararo or Miller have scored the most points at the last three races.
The only man who has got anything like a consistent rhythm going so far is Suzuki’s Joan Mir. He has yet to win a race but he scored more points than anyone at the last three rounds, with a second, a fourth and a third. Despite crashes at Jerez and Brno he now stands just four points behind Miller.
Suzuki’s 2020 GSX-RR is the latest refinement of the machine that was already MotoGP’s best-turning bike when it arrived in 2015. The GSX-RR is still the best-handling, easiest-riding bike and it works superbly with Michelin’s 2020 rear tyre. Finally it has just about enough power to go with the V4s, as Mir proved in Austria.
The Link LonkSeptember 15, 2020 at 04:38PM
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Who will win the 2020 MotoGP title: Ducati or Yamaha? Or Suzuki? - Motor Sport
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Yamaha
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