Quartararo laments 'rookie mistake' after double crash at Dutch TT
Monday, 27 June 2022
The reigning world champion lost his grip and was sent flying.
Fabio Quartararo lamented a "rookie mistake" after twice crashing at the Dutch TT to see the 2022 MotoGP™ title race blown wide open again.
The Monster Energy Yamaha rider's lead over Aleix Espargaro at the top of the standings was cut from 34 points to 21 after failing to finish Sunday's race in Assen.
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After a near blemish-free season up to this point, reigning world champion Quartararo uncharacteristically clattered into Espargaro early on when pushing for second place.
Both riders ended in the gravel, but whereas Espargaro was able to make up significant ground to finish fourth, Quartararo again came off his bike on lap 12.
He lost grip on his rear tyre and was sent flying over his handlebars in a nasty fall, with this his first MotoGP™ retirement since Valencia 2020.
Quartararo apologised to Espargaro immediately after the race, which was won by Francesco Bagnaia, and took full blame for the contentious incident.
"I made a rookie mistake. I wanted to push too much from the beginning," he told Canal+. "I apologise to Aprilia and to Aleix for putting him out of the track.
"It's with these mistakes that you learn for the future, but it was a really stupid mistake. We could very well have set a very good pace and fought for the win.
"These are mistakes that you learn from for the future. I wanted to restart and try to score some points, but I saw that the bike was a problem.
"I stopped, the team told me to restart in case of rain, but when I restarted, I could see that something was wrong.
"I tried, but I don't know [what happened]. We have to analyse the crash, but I lost the rear a bit abruptly, so we'll see what they say. I made a rookie mistake."
Despite seeing his lead cut, Quartararo still holds a healthy advantage at the top of the riders' standings heading into the five-week break.
Espargaro produced the ride of the day – and one of the best individual rides of the season – to recover from 15th after being sent off the track by his title rival.
The Aprilia rider overtook Jack Miller and Brad Binder on the final lap to finish just outside the podium places, but he could not make a serious dent in Quartararo's title lead.
"I was very strong in that place, and Fabio knew it," Espargaro said of the early collision. "The reason Fabio did his movement is because his feeling with the bike is super-high.
"We saw it also in Germany, corner one with [the overtake on Bagnaia]. He's not a dirty rider, but his confidence is that high.
"Today, it's not that he was arrogant. But because he felt super, a lot faster than the rest, he made a bad judgment.
"I knew this could happen. From this moment I said to myself – Fabio is almost perfect, he made no mistakes during the season, so if he makes one mistake you have to profit."
Ducati's poleman Bagnaia led from the start to move back to within 66 points of Quartararo with nine rounds to go.
The Italian, who is fourth in the championship, now has three wins and three retirements in his past six races.
Bagnaia never looked like relinquishing first place to Marco Bezzecchi, although he admitted to being "terrified" of a third DNF in a row when rain hit late on in the Netherlands.
"Looking at the gap with Bezzecchi, he was always catching," Bagnaia said. "I had to push again, I had to open this gap again to be smarter and more calm again later in the race.
"But then the rain came. When I saw the rain, I just slowed down a bit, but Bezzecchi was pushing again.
"So, it was very difficult. I was terrified to crash again, so the main thing was to finish the race. It wasn't easy, but I tried to be smart, I tried to not push over the limit."
DOWN AGAIN! 🤯@FabioQ20 highsides out of Turn 5! 😱#DutchGP 🇳🇱 pic.twitter.com/yUiFrPsh49
— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) June 26, 2022
