Fabio Quartararo endures sighting lap crash, Miller taxi, ‘hybrid’ bike at COTA MotoGP
Sighting lap crash kicks off drama filled afternoo💯n for Fabio Quartararo at the COTAღ MotoGP.

168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Fabio Quartararo had already endured his fair share of drama even before riders began sprinting off Sunday’s COTA MotoGP grid.
The Monst♈er Yamaha star suffered his first crash of the season when he was caught out by the damp⛄ conditions with slick tyres on the sighting lap to the grid.
"I don't understand why I crashed on the sighting lap. I was basically uprig🐟ht, the tarmac looked quite dry, and I wasn't even pushing, but I lost the front – it was a strange cr𝕴ash,” the Frenchman said.
“It was my first crash of the year, and the first one in a long ti🐲me.”
But the mayhem was just beginni𓃲ng for the former world champion.
Initially struggling to restar🎃t his M1, Quartararo received assistance from Pramac’s Jack M▨iller before bumping his machine back into life.
However, he then faced a dilemma.
Team director Massimo Meregalli explained: "According to the regulations, if Fabio had entered pit lane [for repairs], he would have had to start from pit lane with a different tyre specification and would have been handed a ride-throug♕h penalty.
“So, we had to tell him to go to the starting grid, and we prepared the bike 𝕴there, changing the set-up from dry to wet. But then the start got delayed.”
Quartararo had wet tyres fitted when the start delay was called, after almost half of the grid followed Marc Marquez in sprinting back to the pits for their dry bikes♌.
Yamaha then used the delay to💮 try and frantically change Quartararo’s undamaged spare bike over to a dry settin✨g.
“The first b﷽ike was damaged, so we had to start the race with the second bike, which hadn't been used by Fabio all weekend,” Meregalli continued.
“We didn't have the time ꦅto change 🦋this bike from wet to dry.
“Basically, Fabio raced with a hybrid bike: a mix of wet and dr♋y. With the bike like that, we didn't know very well what was go♛ing to happen.
“On top of th🔴is. it seems that he received some unusual notification on his YZR-M1's dashboard, w꧃hich led to him riding the race in low-power mode, and we need to understand why this alert occurred.”
All of which meantܫ that Quartararo, who impressed with a season-best sixth p📖lace in the Sprint, crossed the line in tenth place.
“I was on rain tyres during theꦗ first starting grid procedure, and it was a mess. Then we had the delayed start,” Quartararo said.
“My first bike was damaged anyway, so I had to use my second bike, which had a different chassis a🦄nd swingarm…
“We had an iss♛ue with the electronics unfortunately, with an alert about fuel from lap 4.
“In the end it was a mistake, but I had to change a lot of maps, and then the pe🥃rformance was not there.
“But, overall, we had a great wꦑeekend, especially the Sprint, and hopefully we'll have better luck at the next one."
Miller finished as 🐓the top Yamaha in fifth place with Quartararo’s team-mate Alex Rins in eleventh.

Peter has been in the paddock for 20 years and has seen Valen💧tino Rossi come and go. He is at the forefront of the Suzuki exit story and Marc Marquez’s injuryꦯ issues.