Champion Maximo Quiles angry: “I considered pulling into the pits”

Despite two spectacular crashes caused by high-siders, both during the Moto3 free practice sessions, Aspar rider Maximo Quiles could not shake off his status as favourite at the Qatar Grand Prix. The Spaniard, coached by the Marquez brothers, had such an impressive season record, and number 28’s performance on the track was simply too dominant.

First in FP1, first in qualifying and in FP2. Then pole position on Saturday. Add to that his recent results. Just seven days earlier, Maximo Quiles had also secured pole position at the tropical Sepang circuit, before going on to claim his eleventh victory of the year without any trouble. This meant that, ahead of the race start at Losail, Quiles still had the chance to equal David Alonso’s record of 14 season victories. However, the record set in 2024 remains with the Colombian, Alonso.

Quiles, who had been crowned world champion in Indonesia, had to relinquish first place as early as the sprint to the first corner. The smaller David Almansa handled the sprint to Turn 1 on his Intact GP Kalex more effectively. But instead of making up for this slip-up, the Aspar rider lost four places over the next two kilometres.

Champion Quiles (re.) musste sich in Katar mit Platz 3 zufriedengeben

Foto: Gold and Goose

It was only after a few laps – by which time Almansa had already pulled clear at the front – that Quiles had settled into second place. However, the expected chase, with Adrian Fernandez in tow, failed to materialise. Although the pace was high enough to shake off further pursuers, Maximo Quiles was never in contention for victory in the desert. Worse still: when Quiles, clearly riding at the limit, went a little wide before Turn 10, second place was gone too. Fernández rode flawlessly and had less trouble, so the favourite was left with only the smallest trophy.

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Third place: a huge disappointment

For Quiles, this was a far more serious problem. The 18-year-old turned up at the press conference in a foul mood: “Yes, I’m annoyed and I’m angry. Third place isn’t something that satisfies me. I want to win, and that was my intention here too. I can’t even say exactly what went wrong yet – I don’t know if it was me who wasn’t good enough, or my motorbike.”

The World Championship dominator continued: “I realised I might lose a bit at the start, partly because we deliberately chose a slightly longer gear ratio. Then I nearly crashed going into a bend – I had no feel for the brakes. In the first sector, I thought I was riding a different bike. It felt completely different.”

The problems were more serious than that, as Quiles reported: “I had terrible chattering going into the corners, and there was also a lot of movement in the motorbike under acceleration. I even briefly considered whether I should head for the pits. We need to understand why it was so dramatic. But it also shows me that learning never stops, neither for the team nor for me.”

The World Championship has long since been decided. With two races to go, Quiles has a commanding 139-point lead over Intact rider David Almansa.