Quartararo at a loss to explain Le Mans MotoGP Friday heroics

For just the second time this season, Quartararo will make an appearance in the pole shootout qualifying session on Saturday after finishing Friday’s running at his home round in 10th.

While Yamaha brought a raft of changes to its bike for the Jerez test after the Spanish GP, only a few items – and not the swingarm he was hoping to run – have been brought to Le Mans.

But Quartararo – whose team-mate Alex Rins could only manage 14th – says this didn’t offer him many benefits on his run to a top 10 spot in practice on Friday.

“I don’t know,” the 2021 world champion said when asked how he managed that lap. “Pushing all we have, the window we have for the bike to be like that is really small.

“I think we made a great choice on the front tyre with the hard.

“And yeah, I was pushing absolutely to the limit. When I made the first time attack, I was already P8 I think.

“So, I had to push even more and I improved. It was on the limit, but more than being directly into Q2 is we are less than two tenths to third. So, this is positive.”

Asked what improvements he could feel on the bike, he added: “Nothing. Unfortunately, nothing yet because we ride with the standard bike and we have to make a step, especially on the grip. But not only on traction but especially going in.”

A lack of rear grip has been a constant issue for the Yamaha this year and Quartararo says it’s important for the team to understand why the bike’s behaviour changes so radically with different levels of adhesion.

“The grip is our main issue because we clearly see from the medium tyre this morning it was a nightmare,” he added.

“Not for the bike, but for the tyres, and as soon as we have a little bit of grip our bike feels completely different.

“We have to understand why with more grip the bike completely changes because in the past you used to lose a little bit of performance but not as much as now.

“So, this is at the moment our main thing to improve, the grip and the bike to turn.”