The Yamaha rider suffered a lack of rear grip in the opening laps of Sunday’s Termas de Rio Hondo race and slumped from sixth on the grid to 13th.
He eventually took the chequered flag in eighth, though was 10.215 seconds from race winner Aleix Espargaro on the Aprilia.
It continued an inconsistent start to the year for Quartararo, who struggled to ninth in Qatar and was second in the wet Indonesian GP – a lack of top speed from the 2022 M1 and rear grip issues a constant problem.
“You never know what to expect,” Quartararo, now 10 points off the championship lead, said. “Of course I never expected to have Aprilia and KTM in the first two positions.
“But after the pre-season, it was everyone was super-fast, Aleix was going fast.
“But we have a lot of surprises but I didn’t expect us to be that – I wouldn’t say far, because we are 10 points [off the lead]. But [I didn’t expect us to be] struggling so much.”
Fabio Quartararo, Yamaha Factory Racing
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