World Champion Fabio Quartararo has suffered an𒊎 unexpectedly difficult Portimao MotoGP qualifying after finishing seventh.

The Monster Energy Yamaha rider, along with Francesco Bagnaia, looked like an odds-on favorite to battle for pole following free 🦩practice, ꦛhowever, the Frenchman failed to find his rhythm around the Algarve International Circuit. 

Aft𓂃er finishing t🧸op in both Friday’s sessions and second to Bagnaia by just +0.001s in FP3 third, Quartararo already began struggling during FP4 after modifying the set-up. 

"It was not an easy day. The afternoon was quite triౠcky. We did𓃲n't find our way like we did yesterday," said Quartararo.

"The feeling was not great, and I expected much better from FP4 with t﷽he hard tyre. But my feeling was not as good as I expected, and we modified the set-up a bit. 

"We need to find something for tomorrow. Of cours🍬e, we will ඣgo back to the normal base setting and try to make our pace like it was in the past. 

"Wღe have the warm-up tomorrow to confirm everything. If we find our pace with the medium tyre, we can do a great race. We need to work on that tomorrow."

Given his overall performance this weekend and the fact Quartararo won April’s early season race in Portimao, it would be a surprise if the 22 year-old is unable to come through🤡 the field for a podium at lea𓃲st.

On the other side of the garage, Franco Morbidelli has enjoyed by far his s෴trongest weekend since returning from a knee injury at Misano (1).

The Italian also qualified on the third row, but more importantly has been🔜 able to ho🌺ld a much improved race pace, an area that proved problematic last time out. 

Morbidelli added: "I'm happy about tod🅠ay because we made a step compared to yesterday.&n🌠bsp;

"We were much closer to the top, and we did it on 🍰a day when our rivals were very strong. 

"We are closer to Fabio, who is always theꦯ best Yamaha. I'm happy abou𓄧t that, and it has been a good day for me."