Quartararo is the real deal
Rampant rookie holds off Rossi and Viñales for stunning third
Fabio Quartararo enhanced his flourishing reputation in Austria by racing MotoGP’s slowest bike to the podium on one of the championship’s fastest tracks. The Red Bull Ring is overloaded with high-speed straights and brutal acceleration zones and it has the highest average speed on the 19-round calendar.
You might think riding a Yamaha YZR-M1 that was suffering a deficit of nearly 10mph compared to the Honda of Marc Marquez and Andrea Dovizioso’s Ducati would be like taking a chopstick to a gunfight in Sunday’s MotoGP battle.
But Quartararo emerged as top Independent Team rider and top Yamaha after he easily kept Valentino Rossi and Maverick Viñales at bay to score his third podium in the last five races. The 20-year-old has the lowest spec YZR-M1 on the grid and his motor packs 500rpm less than
Rossi, Viñales and teammate Franco Morbidelli.
And he only got to race the latest spec Öhlins carbon front forks for the first time in Austria. His series of eye-catching performances has reportedly convinced Petronas, the Malaysian petroleum giant and title sponsor of his new Yamaha squad to secure him a major technical upgrade in 2020. It emerged in Austria that Petronas is willing to commit the extra budget to ensure Quartararo races a YZR-M1 identical in spec to Rossi and Viñales next season. His manager Eric Mahe was quoted in an interview prior to Sunday’s race that Petronas and Quartararo are now awaiting confirmation from Yamaha on whether the technical upgrade will be approved.
Mahe was quoted saying: “Petronas has already validated the budget increase to obtain this (factory) material. Fabio is the phenomenon of the moment and we are now waiting for a final answer from Yamaha.” Petronas SRT manager Wilco Zeelenberg told MCN: “The engine spec is the same as the factory bikes except that Fabio has to survive with five engines for the season instead of seven, so we have to reduce the revs. Fabio deserved the upgrade to the carbon fork tubes. He was already running the same internals as the other guys but the carbon forks weigh 800 grams less.” Quartararo said: “It’s incredible for me to be on the podium on what is the toughest track of the calendar for Yamaha. I didn’t make a single mistake and I even surprised myself with that. To be so concentrated for 28 laps is not easy but I didn’t miss one braking point or apex and I couldn’t because Vale was close behind.”