INTERVIEW I MO T OGP WORLD C HAMPION FABIO QUAR TARARO
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"To be honest, it was only bikes
(that interested me during
childhood)," he said. "But not
because my dad told me, 'You
need to be on the bike!' It was
more natural. My dad bought me
a new bike and said, 'Try this.
If you like it, we will continue.'
I liked it and was telling him all
the time, 'Let's go riding, let's
go riding!' I think that helped.
With my dad, we always fought.
Always. But never when I was
on the bike."
Thanks to a meteoric rise
through the junior ranks, he was
being touted as the man most
likely to challenge Marquez when
he was poised to graduate to the
world championship seven years
ago. However, those articles pon-
dering whether he was the next
Marc Marquez were not helpful to
a teenager still coming to terms
with the cutthroat GP world. But
tough times provided him with
plenty of experiences to over-
come obstacles in future years.
"I didn't care if I
went one second
slower. I just
wanted to change
totally my way of
riding. From there
it was working
pretty well."
-Fabio Quartararo
Yamaha bosses
have credited
Quartararo with
making the pit
box a happy
place to be.
Assen was one of Quartararo's best
rides as he left the others for dead.