MotoGP is finally back! The first free practice of the MotoGP season 2021 begins on Friday on the Losail track and the race for the championship title seems more open than ever. In the words of the protagonists during and after the tests of the last few weeks, there seem to be many candidates for the title, and that certainly includes them Fabio Quartararo, who seemed to have the championship under his belt last year, after two wins in the first two rounds and the absence of Marc Marquez. However, the 2020 season did not offer much more satisfaction than Jerez’s for the French driver, who only finished eighth at the end of the season. This year Quartararo has moved into the Yamaha factory team. an additional responsibility, but also a lot of additional room for maneuver to adapt the M1 to his needs. Will it be Fabio’s year?
“The season is finally beginning! – he said – I did a lot of laps during the preseason test and even though we couldn’t drive on the last day, we still finished the test with a positive result. I am very curious to see if track conditions have changed a lot since the MotoGP Qatar test, But above all, I just want to drive my M1 again and start the 2021 season! “
In addition to Quartararo in the Yamaha garage, there will be Maverick Vinales, in its fifth season with the M1 factory and with ambitions galore for 2021. Maverick is now the “older” rider of the team and his goal for the season was already clear when the bikes were presented: to win the world championship. During the tests, the Spaniard showed a good pace, like his teammate and Jack Miller. Will this be confirmed over the weekend?
“This year’s winter tests were not very long, but we still have a lot of work to do – explained Maverick – and the Qatar test was very positive. This is important. We are about to start the new season and are on a good level. We know our strengths. We have a good rhythm aPlus, we’ve worked hard on the areas that we know we can keep improving. Now is the time to race! “
As always, Maio Meregalli will lead the official Yamaha team, obviously putting a lot of hope in his riders and looking forward to the coming season with optimism.
“All motorsport fans were looking forward to this week, because MotoGP is back in action. The first race of the season is always particularly exciting: It’s the first time that we can really measure ourselves against our competition. We took good steps during the Qatar test and are confident. Yamaha engineers and our test riders have put a lot of hard work into this. Both Maverick and Fabio felt comfortable with the package we prepared for them during the test. Now it’s just a matter of getting the show started! “