(Motorsport-Total.com) – Yamaha rider Fabio Quartararo made his way through the MotoGP practice day for the Dutch Grand Prix in Assen with pain after a hand and especially a foot injury.
With pain, Yamaha rider Fabio Quartararo rounded out the top six in Assen on Friday
In addition to a sprained thumb and ankle, Quartaro fractured his left toe while training in Amsterdam this week. Despite this handicap, Assen Friday was one of the best Fridays of the season.
in Compiled time list for the first two practice sessions for the Dutch Grand Prix Quartararo appears in sixth place. This means that for the first time since Austin (mid-April) he reached the second quarter on a Saturday. He was 0.278 seconds behind the fastest of the day, Marco Pesicki (VR46-Ducati).
“It was a painful day, but a good day,” Quartararo sums up, revealing: “In the morning, I was driving without painkillers. However, in the afternoon, I decided to take some. Because I had pain in my legs and I moved my legs In the left bends it moves a lot. That makes the whole bike move more than usual.”
The result: “I have to do with my arms more than usual, especially when changing direction. My arms are very tired, but I have to get through it somehow,” says Quartaro and wants to continue on Saturday where he left off on Friday.
Air fins should remain, but not for performance reasons
This afternoon the 2021 MotoGP World Champion used the aerodynamic fins on the back of his Yamaha M1 for the first time. His teammate Franco Morbidelli tried them out in the morning practice session. The Italian then rode it again in the afternoon, but did not pass P16 on the timesheets in either session.
In the afternoon Quartararo led with aero fins behind the seat for the first time
As for Quartararo, he doesn’t attribute the relatively small 0.278-second gap to the Finn’s best time of the day behind the bench. He jokes, “Honestly, I didn’t feel any difference. We’d probably stick with it anyway. Just to make the bike look a little newer.”
Two years ago he led Quartararo to victory in Assen. He can’t and doesn’t want to think about it this weekend, but: “I like the track a lot. The grip wasn’t particularly high today, especially with the medium tyres. But I hope we can find something for tomorrow.” His strategy for finishing the race as far ahead as possible in Saturday’s Q2 is simple. “Just always drive at the limit,” Quartaro says.
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