MotoGP Sepang: ‘I have nothing to lose’ - Quartararo

Fabio Quartararo’s defence of the MotoGP title took a tumble in Australia with the Monster Energy Yamaha man now pushing hard for the penultimate round at Sepang.

Now 14 points adrift of title-rival Pecco Bagnaia with Aleix Espargaro almost the same again behind, Quartararo has two races left to retain the crown, with the task now to keep the Ducati at bay until Valencia.

“Right now I’m in a position where I don’t really need to think about anything, just push myself to the limit,” Quartararo said as the Malaysia weekend prepared. “I have the feeling I have nothing to lose right now, in this moment, so of course I will approach the race putting myself on the limit from the beginning of the weekend.

“Try to make some changes on the bike. Every time we go to a track we feel super good and never touch something. I think it’s a good moment to, even if we have a good feeling, try to make an improvement in some areas. I think it’s a different situation than the previous ones.”

“It’s not over. If he did it, we can do it.

“Like I said, of course the second part of the season has been horrible, but we can make it turn and try to really perform during these last two races.”

With Sepang not featuring on the race calendar since 2019 - when the Frenchman was racing for the locally sponsored Petronas outfit - Quartararo has mixed feelings about the 5.5km track.

“In 2019 we struggled a bit in the last sector on the two long straights, but it’s a track I really enjoy, it’s one of my favourites,” he explained. “I will do my best to make the best qualifying, this is super important for us, and then we see during the weekend. The pace is always super good in every place but will depend a lot on qualifying.”