FRANCE: Historic moment for French motorsports at the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix! On October 24, the 22-year-old Fabio Quartararo became the first French rider to win the World Champion MotoGP title and the first non-Spanish rider to win since 2011.
The 2021 FIM MotoGP World Championship is the premier class of the 73rd season of the FIM Road Racing World Championship held in Misano, Italy.
The stats
By becoming the Champion, Quartararo broke the longest sequence of a country in the category held by Spanish racers since 2011: six titles with Marc Márquez, two with Jorge Lorenzo, and one with Joan Mir.
El Diablo is the youngest Yamaha rider to win a premier class world title, the 18th title of a Yamaha rider in the premier class. He also is the third one to score the most premier class wins in the same season on the MotoGP podium.
In the MotoGP era, El Niçoise is the third youngest rider to win the title and also the third rider to do so without having previously taken a title in one of the smaller classes Moto3 and Moto2.
For the seventh successive year, the rider who wins the world title failed to win the opening race of the season. The last to do so was Marc Marquez in 2014.
Why the result is important to France
France organized the world’s first motorcycle race in 1903. The race was won by local Maurice Fournier aboard a 1500cc V4, built by Paris bicycle manufacturer Clément Cycles in its factory on the banks of the River Seine. It took France more than a century to return to the highest peak of a sport the country created.
Fabio Quartararo is the first French MotoGP champion and the seventh overall in GP racing. He is also the French rider with most podiums (20) in the class ahead of Christian Sarron (18), and has tripled the number of French victories before him over a single year.
The race
Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) started 15th and finished fourth in the race, overpassing the rest of the riders from the second lap. With ten podiums, five victories, five pole positions, and five times “the fastest lap” this season, Le Niçoise gives Yamaha the first victory since 2015.
The eight-time world champion from Spain Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) put a lot of pressure on the Italian Francesco “Pecco” Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team). The “fastest rider” by the words of Marquez, Bagnaia kept the lead for 22 laps and crashed five laps from the finish.
Marc Marquez won his third race of the season. Pol Espargaro (Repsol Honda) finished second; Italian Enea Bastianini (Ducati-Avintia) completed the podium with the 2021 MotoGP World Champion Fabio Quartararo just behind.
Quartararo’s compatriot and competitor Johann Zarco (Pramac Racing) crossed the line in fifth with his Ducati Desmosedici GP21.
Top 10 MotoGP
1. Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team)
2. Pol Espargaro (Repsol Honda Team)
3. Enea Bastianini (Avintia Esponsorama)
4. Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP)
5. Johann Zarco (Pramac Racing)
6. Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar)
7. Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini)
8. Maverick Viñales (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini)
9. Luca Marini (SKY VR46 Avintia)
10. Valentino Rossi (Petronas Yamaha SRT)
The interviews
Who is Fabio Quartararo
Fabio is the son of Etienne Quartararo. Fabio’s father is a former 125cc French Champion with Sicilian roots and Fabio was born in Nice, France. Fabio’s predisposition to motorsports was allegedly established when he received a Yamaha PW50. Only four at the time, he began riding managed by Jean Phillipe Henry and his father.
Since then, everything Fabio has accomplished has been based on hard work, discipline, and his support network. However, the motorcycle is a very demanding sport that requires a very fit personality, technically, physically, and psychologically, so he has had his bumps on the road too, including bike problems, injuries, and team issues.
Starting riding at the age of four, he began riding at mini circuits around his home to master the basics. At the age of seven, Fabio’s father took him to Spain to face rivals at his level there. When 13, he settled near Alicante with his manager Eduardo Martín. The goal was, once again, to perfect his skills in Spain and develop his talent to reach MotoGP.
As he had a Roberto Locatelli replica helmet which had a sticker of a devil on it, Spaniards started calling him El Diablo. Later on, he was also called “the new Marquez” and “the Little Prince.”
After many ups and downs, el Diablo says that he woke up for the titles in 2018 when he qualified for a disastrous 28th in Argentina.
As Mat Oxley writes for Motorsport Magazine, “And his riding is something to behold. Quartararo is now more animated and aggressive on the bike than ever – he dances all over his M1, transferring load between the front and rear tyres to generate grip and reduce wear. He leans far, far off the bike to spirit it through corners and knows that it’s down to no one but him to squeeze everything from his M1. He doesn’t expect the bike to do it for him.”
A kid’s dream come true
This Grand Prix was the last of the Italian icon Valentino Rossi (Yamaha-SRT, 10th) before hanging up the helmet at the end of the year.
In the picture below from MotoGP, Fabio is seen from idolising Valentino Rossi as a kid to being greeted by him as the MotoGP World Champion Trophy in the final season of the great Italian rider.
Celebrated in his hometown Nice
Fabio received many congratulations from his hometown, Nice, and also from his fellow citizens and compatriots. He was even featured on the public transport.
What’s next
The last two rounds of the season will take the drivers to the Algarve (Portugal) on November 7 and Valencia (Spain) on the 14th.
