Bastianini, Quartararo, Oliveira and Zarco sit down with the press ahead of the Argentina GP.
The FIM MotoGP™ World Championship is back in South America as the sport returns to Termas de Rio Hondo for the first time since 2019. The pre-event Press Conference got the Gran Premio Michelin® de la Republica Argentina underway, with Championship leader Enea Bastianini (Gresini Racing MotoGP™) joined by Indonesia winner Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) and his fellow Lombok podium finishers, 2021 MotoGP™ World Champion Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™) and Johann Zarco (Pramac Racing).
QUOTES
How many positives did you take from Indonesia with it being your first wet weather race in MotoGP™?
Enea Bastianini: “Yeah in Mandalika I did my first race in the wet. The first half of the race was a disaster for me but later I gained confidence with the bike and step by step I recovered the gap to the group in front of me. In the end I was fast, I am happy about my race but not my result. Now we’re in Argentina, I think we can be fast but I’ve never tried MotoGP here. It will be a very hard race I think but we’re ready.”
What do you think it will be like riding a GP bike here?
EB23: “The 21 bike can be fast at this track and I think the grip won’t be perfect like in Mandalika or a little bit in Qatar, but I like these conditions. I have to stay concentrated, especially on Saturday, because it’s very long – one session more. It’s important to learn and be fast in qualifying.”
On the schedule change:
EB23: “We will see if it arrives tomorrow, it will be hard for all the mechanics but on Saturday hopefully we will be on track.”
Do you think you are ‘back’?
Miguel Oliveira: “No, of course Mandalika marked an important step in our results. It’s been a long time since I’ve scored that many points, especially from the second race of the season. It was challenging conditions, we fast in both the dry and the wet, we were competitive. I felt like we could have challenge for podium positions in the dry. We want to take that drive and motivation that win has given us to start the work here and be competitive on the track.”
How will the weekend go for KTM?
MO88: “The weekend could go very well. The bike in 2019 was not the best version or close to the bike we have now. We were midfield competitive which was good at that time so for now we can aim to challenge for higher positions here. There’s no reason to think we can’t be competitive.”
Performances in 2021 could be described as spiky, what’s the importance of building on Mandalika performance?
MO88: “Spiky is what the beginning of the season looks like. A zero and a win, not what I aimed for, but a win is a win, I’ll take that any day. I think it starts with Qualifying. I started the Indonesia GP with the aim of qualifying better and I will start the Argentina GP with the same mentality. We need to better in qualifying, we need to improve qualifying, so that’s my main target.”
On the schedule change:
MO88: “I mean I think we need to be happy considering some teams have nothing and from my side we’re only missing one bike so it’s the least of the problems. We have to condense the activity for Saturday which will be different and a challenge, especially for mechanics so let’s see how that goes, but happy of course to do something.”
How important was the result in Indonesia?
Fabio Quartararo: “Yeah it was super important because when we arrived to Mandalika they changed the tarmac and rear tyre, we knew we were fast on that track but with all the changes you never know what to expect. Basically we were fast in the dry, the pace was great, but you never know what to expect when it’s raining. We’ve never been fast but the grip was crazy. It took me time to realise that I could be really fast, but we need to try and find something on the bike because even when we had no grip, the bike was the same in Mandalika. We had luck that the track was grippy but we need to find a solution on tracks that aren’t grippy.”
Is it hard to understand or predict where you’ll be this weekend?
FQ20: “Basically yeah last years in Qatar we had at least three days of test and we had the race one or two weeks later, so the track is already clean more or less. This year there was no Qatar test, here we never been testing. The first time I was here in MotoGP was 2019, I’ve not been riding too bad looking at the data this morning, I was riding a totally different way. It’s difficult what to expect but I want to give my best and see what result is possible. What is sure is I will give my maximum to the front guys.”
Can you put into words the journey of the past four years – 28th on the grid in Moto2™ to MotoGP™ World Champion?
FQ20: “To be honest it’s a dream because when you have good moments, as soon as you think about like here for me four years ago I was P28 and super far, you never know if you’re going to reach MotoGP or not. From that moment until now, this race was one of the worst of my career, most difficult, but it’s the one that made me change, so I would say not it’s a great memory because I can laugh about this race.”
On the schedule change:
FQ20: “I have everything so we can start. It’s a shame and we really cross our fingers that it arrives tomorrow. Basically it will be a challenge, most of all the mechanics, because they will have a lot of work. Saturday will be a long day but on TV it will be nice, we will see if it’s great or not for us. At least we will have it all in one day and only missing one practice.”
What is it about this track you like?
Johann Zarco: “Since Moto2 I’ve had great memories. It seems quite a fast track, quite long corners and fast corners so that’s why I’m feeling comfortable here. With the Yamaha in MotoGP I got a good result in 2017, podium in 2018. Fighting for victory when Cal won the race. Then 2019 with the KTM and it was a more difficult – two years without Argentina is quite long. Now I’m feeling good with the Ducati, still growing on it because the feeling is quite good but I’m sure it can be even better to use the full potential of the bike. I hope if I can do it here, have a great result. After the podium in Mandalika, for sure it’s been given a good push but we have to see because the schedule changed. Saturday will be long so at the same time we have to be clever to do a good work but on the other side try to go as fast as possible to prepare for qualifying.”
Will the lower grip circuit be a problem for Ducati?
JZ5: “We have to see. When the track is dirty, even if it’s difficult I’m able to find some limits, then when the grip is better, I have the opposite problem, I’m not pushing the bike enough. It’s too difficult to say before we ride on the track because when the layout is different sometimes there are different feelings and this helps a lot.”
On the schedule change:
JZ5: “it’s tough for the teams that haven’t received anything. The work you usually do in 48 hours they will have only one night so it will be tough. Fortunately for Pramac we have everything, so we are ready. Saturday will be a big day but enough practice to get used to the track and also clean the track because it’s been a long time since we raced here. As usual, we will have a slippery feeling and then it will get better so it will be a big day on Saturday. For myself, I like this track and the change in schedule I think it will still be good enough to hope for a good result.”
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