VOLUME ISSUE DECEMBER , P93
Fabio Quartararo at Jerez. It
would be remiss to overlook the
Frenchman, who was clearly on
the grid's worst bike. His heroics
singlehandedly saved Yamaha's
blushes in the inline-four M1's
Pecco Bagnaia in Indonesia. The triple champ's
trials and tribulations were one of 2025's major
storylines. But never did they appear as preposter
-
ous quite like those 10 days spanning races at
Motegi and Mandalika. Returning to the bones of
his beloved GP24, he dominated the opposition
in Japan. But a stiffer Michelin rear tire construc
-
tion threw him off course in a way few could have
expected just five days later. He was a baffling
three seconds slower per lap in the Sprint. And he
crashed out of Sunday's race when chasing down
perennial backmarker Somkiat Chantra. From glory
to meltdown in five baffling days.
The contrast from the Japanese MotoGP weekend to the
next in Indonesia was hard for everyone to believe, let
alone Pecco Bagnaia himself.
Quartararo gets the congratulations
from Moto2 rider David Alonso
after blitzing the lap record
at Jerez. It was a joyous
lap to watch.
final season. One positive was the return of its qualifying potential.
And watching the 26-year-old extract the absolute maximum over
a flying lap became one of the year's great pleasures. Jerez was a
case in point as he smashed the previous lap record by four-tenths
to take a first pole in three years. Four more would follow, indicating
the '21 champ was going above and beyond all season.
CN
