Fabio Quartararo Battles Arm Pump in Assen MotoGP 2026

Fabio Quartararo claimed his best MotoGP finish since Catalunya with eighth place at the 2026 Assen MotoGP, despite battling arm pump during the closing stages on his Yamaha.

The Monster Energy Yamaha rider described the Assen race as long, physical and not particularly enjoyable. Quartararo said he began suffering arm pump in his right arm for at least the final 10 laps but still managed to bring the bike home inside the top 10.

"I think we maximised our performance with the result we achieved today. I'm not feeling great with the bike at the moment, especially in the race, so I think we can be happy with what we did. For at least the last 10 laps, I suffered arm pump on the right," Quartararo said.

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Quartararo explained that the issue was caused by the combination of Assen's fast, flowing layout and a Yamaha package he described as heavy and lacking grip. That made the race especially demanding physically as he tried to maintain pace over the full distance.

"I've had three arm pump operations already. But this track is really physical, and especially our bike, which has no grip and is super heavy, made me struggle a bit more," he added.

Although the arm pain may have cost him several seconds, Quartararo does not believe it changed the final outcome. He pointed out that Marc Marquez finished seventh, 10 seconds ahead, leaving eighth as the maximum realistic result.

"I still kept the best position we could. Marc finished seventh and he was 10 seconds ahead. Maybe I could have been two or three seconds faster, but I was not going to be seventh," Quartararo explained.

Assen also gave Yamaha two bikes inside the top 10, with Alex Rins finishing directly behind Quartararo. However, Quartararo's comments underlined that Yamaha still needs to improve grip and reduce the physical demands of its package to fight more consistently at the next rounds.