Quartararo “switched brain off” to do Germany MotoGP qualifying laps

The Yamaha rider admitted on Friday that he needed a Barcelona-style turnaround in grip levels at the Sachsenring to be more competitive, but was still outside the top five come the end of FP3.

But Quartararo went on to qualify second on Saturday and only missed out on pole by just 0.076 seconds to Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia.

Given his time attack struggles, Quartararo admitted he had to “switch off my brain” to be able to do the lap he needed.

“I’m pretty happy because all the Friday and Saturday morning we were not able to qualify in the top five when we were with the soft tyre,” Quartararo said afterwards.

“And in qualifying I basically switched off my brain a little bit and tried to make the best lap as possible.

“Second place is great, and also the pace in FP4 was good with both tyres.

“So, I think in any case whatever our choice is we will have a great potential for the race.”

Fabio Quartararo, Yamaha Factory Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Quartararo suffered an odd moment towards the end of FP3 when the visor on his crash helmet broke.

This is the second time in the space of a year that the Frenchman has had riding gear problems, following his suit zipper malfunction in last year’s Catalan GP.

But Quartararo explained that his visor issue was his own mistake as he likely didn’t clip it into place properly, which allowed some wind to get underneath it and force it open when he was looking behind him for oncoming traffic.

“You know, I’m always a rider that likes to make strange things,” Quartararo joked, in reference to his riding gear problems.

“I think I went out and I didn’t really clip it well.

“There were some riders in front of me and I knew Aleix [Espargaro] was going fast [behind].

“I turned around and just the visor came up and then came off.

“So, I think it was a bit of my mistake and that’s why I didn’t get angry.”