Yamaha’s Quartararo had a rough start in the qualifying round, ending up in 23rd place because of the wet track. But he made a remarkable comeback during the sprint race at Jerez.
He quickly moved up to 11th place on the first lap and by the third lap, he was already in ninth place. As the race progressed, he climbed up to third position after several other riders crashed out.
Quartararo managed to stay ahead of KTM wildcard Pedrosa by a very small margin of 0.050 seconds, securing his first podium finish since the Indonesian Grand Prix in October last year.
But later, it was found that Quartararo’s bike didn’t meet the minimum tyre pressure rule, so he was given an eight-second time penalty. This pushed him down to fifth place and moved Pedrosa up to third, earning him his first podium finish since 2017.
Before this season, breaking the tire pressure rule meant disqualification. But the rules changed this year, with the penalty for the sprint being eight seconds and for the grand prix being 16 seconds.
Quartararo is the first rider this season to face a penalty for this rule violation. Another rider, Raul Fernandez, also received an eight-second penalty for the same reason, moving Marc Marquez up to sixth place.
It’s not confirmed if Quartararo’s front or rear tire pressure was too low, but last year, all penalties for this issue were because of low front tyre pressure.
Pedrosa’s return to the podium comes a year after his sixth-place finish in the sprint and seventh-place finish in the grand prix as a wildcard rider for KTM at Jerez. He also finished fourth in both races at the San Marino GP.
Talking about his performance in the Spanish GP sprint, Pedrosa said that he started around 13th place and was behind Fabio Quartararo. He decided not to push too hard because of the tricky track conditions and the possibility of his tires not being ready. Despite the confusion about his position during the race, he managed to secure third place.
