Yamaha champion Fabio Quartararo retraces some difficult moments experienced in the 2022 MotoGP season.
Despite the technical differences between Yamaha and Ducati, Fabio Quartararo and Pecco Bagnaia battled it out until the last round in Valencia. They finished 17 points behind in the standings, but in the second part of the championship it became clear that the Desmosedici GP had an edge. So much so that he made up for those 91 points achieved after the French rider’s victory at the Sachsenring.
But the situation was immediately clear, when he realized firsthand that his bike was not up to the rivals on the straights. Also the Yamaha M1 he had lost his historic advantage when cornering and the other brand colleagues, from Franco Morbidelli to Andrea Dovizioso, were unable to support the champion from Nice. “Since the beginning of the year everything has been a bit of a miracle“.
Fabio Quartararo and the difficult moments
In the two-year period 2020-2021, Yamaha froze, like the other manufacturers, the engine for the Covid emergency and cost containment. A decisive step forward was expected at the beginning of 2022, but instead the engineers were unable to make the necessary improvements and Fabio Quartararo, like the other official drivers, had to continue with the same engine as in previous years, because the latest evolution gave reliability problems. Despite the “speed” problem, the podium arrived in Indonesia which lifted the champion’s morale.
The comparison with Marc Marquez and the Ducatis however made him understand right away that defending the world title would have been impossible. In the second half of the championshipI decided to resign myself, admitting the reality of the situation. I didn’t have the weapons to win“, he told Moto Revue Magazine. “From that moment on, Ducati definitively took over the power. We systematically ended up with seven Ducatis in front of each race“.
The only improvement is the new swingarm, too little to keep up with the Ducati GP22. Something seems to have changed on the M1: “Since Maverick Viaales is no longer in the team, the bike is no longer competitive. In twenty races Morbidelli scored 42 points. And as for Dovi, he’s never managed to do a decent race… When the others progressed, we stayed put. There have been difficult moments“ concludes Fabio Quartararo. “At Mugello everyone was happy because I finished second. I got the impression that no one realized the trouble we were in“.
