Doha MotoGP wins “the special one” of my career

Quartararo was left in ninth place at the end of the first lap after being flooded from fifth on the grid.

But the Yamaha rider made his way through the pack and on lap 19 had replaced the long-time leader Jorge Martin on the Pramac Ducati. From that point on, Quartararo raced 1.4 seconds to the fourth victory of his MotoGP career.

Quartararo admitted that he felt like a ‘rookie’ at the opening race in Qatar a week ago and said of his victory in Doha: “I haven’t won a lot of races so this race is definitely the special one, the one on the ninth comes.

“I think in the middle of the race I was more or less in that position and I felt so good in overtaking spots like Turn 10, Turn 15 and I felt like I could win the race at that moment.

“It makes a big difference to last week because last week I drive a bit like an amateur, like a rookie, because I haven’t played with mapping, with tires and in the second race I go backwards.

“It feels good to win and also to have two Frenchmen 1: 2. I think it’s been a long time since we saw it.

“Well, I’m so happy for this win.”

Fabio Quartararo, Yamaha Factory Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Quartararo won the first two races of the 2020 season and appeared to be the lead man in the championship before the inconsistent form for the rest of the year meant he wasn’t back on the podium until he won in Barcelona.

Yamaha got off to a similarly strong start to 2021: Maverick Vinales won the Qatar GP and Quartararo won the Doha event with the improved M1 package.

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However, Quartararo hesitates to say whether the form Yamaha showed at the start of 2021 is more real than it was at this point last year.

“Step by step,” he said when asked by Motorsport.com whether this form was as promising as it was at the beginning of 2020.

“Last year I won the first two races in Jerez, the second by eight seconds.

“So step by step. We’ve ridden the same track twice so I’m confident with the bike and I feel like we can be quick.

“But I don’t want to say yes to you and then it’s no, so I believe in our bike at the moment, but it will work all year round.

“Right now we have a really good bike.”