Quartararo: This was the best second place I did in my career for sure

Monster Energy Yamaha rider Fabio Quartararo has taken another step closer to a maiden MotoGP world championship after finishing second at COTA. 

Quartararo lost second place for all but a few seconds at the start, in what eventually turned out to be a lonely but impressive ride from the 22 year-old. 

Marc Marquez, who started third, got ahead of Quartararo and Francesco Bagnaia on the approach to turn one, before the championship leader also squeezed down the inside of Bagnaia at said turn one. 

Quartararo then held onto Marquez for five laps before Jorge Martin had a look at getting ahead of the Frenchman. 

However, a move was not forthcoming as Quartararo instead pulled away from a trio of Ducati’s led by Martin. This was several laps later and at a stage where Marquez was well up the road before taking win #7 at COTA. 

But for Quartararo, it’s perhaps the most important second place of the season for the Yamaha man, as he now has a first match point opportunity at Misano. 

Speaking after the race, Quartararo said: "This was the best second place I did in my career for sure. Before starting that race I was feeling a bit more stressed to be honest, but from the first corner as soon as you start the race, the stress is off and I did a really good race. 

"Really happy because Pecco [Bagnaia] was super strong during the last two races where he scored 50 points. But, it was great to finish in front of him on this track."

Quartararo also stated that he tried as hard as possible to go with Marquez, but was unable to do so because of the Spaniard’s better pace on used tyres. 

"I tried because I had a big group behind and Jorge [Martin] tried to overtake me in turn one," said Quartararo. 

"My only solution to have a better race was to push, but I didn’t have the pace of Marc [Marquez], especially with used tyres which is where I was struggling. 

"At the end, the main goal was to get a podium and we achieved it."