Fabio Quartararo is a 20-year-old MotoGP rookie riding a Yamaha on the satellite Petronas SRT Team. He has never won a world championship. He has only 1 win and 4 podiums in his GP career. With the possible exception of Marc Marquez (Honda), he is also the fastest MotoGP rider currently.
During the opening round at Qatar, Quartararo was forced to start from pit lane. He then proceeded to set astonishing lap times as he cut through the field. Last Saturday, he took pole position for the 4th round this year at Jerez with a new lap record. He is the youngest rider ever to start in pole position in the Premier GP class.
Quartararo was running in 2nd position past the halfway point of the race when a transmission problem sidelined him. He came back the next day, however, and shattered his own lap record at Jerez by half a second.
Quartararo has had his ups-and-downs, including problems with injuries. His natural talent is well known, however, even by Marc Marquez (who mentioned it at Jerez last weekend). Perhaps MotoGP is where Quartararo will find his stride, and some consistency, to go with all that talent.
The next MotoGP race will be held at Le Mans, the home track for the young Frenchman Quartararo. Will he surprise, or even astonish us yet again? We should all be watching Quartararo on May 19 in France.
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I’m fairly sure he did burst onto the scene in Moto3 in his debut year – definitely got atleast one podium (Assen from memory). A podium in your debut season in that class is no mean feat
What are those scoops on the front of his bike? Some sort of “hand coolers”???
I hope he stays put. He and the Yamaha are working well together and he’d do well to build on it. If they succeed, the team will find the money to keep him. There are several other ‘phenoms’ languishing on noncompetitive machinery and less focused teams.
Rookies often do well because they’re in a satellite team with less pressure. Next year, w’ll see how well he does with a factory team turning the screw on him.
The kid is obviously very talented. Can over the length of a season can he beat factory MotoGP riders? He can probably come pretty close on his current ride.(Starting to sound familiar yet?) So lets say he does..he needs a place to go, he needs a factory ride to go any further. What is available ? Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki are all happy with their squads.I think KTM is pretty happy with their team. That leaves Aprilia offering him Ianonne’s ride. That means he tries to move on with a sub par factory ride that can’t beat the sattelites (now does it sound familiar? If not think another Frenchman. Still stuck? Zarco! There I said it. Last years French phenom who often challenged and beat the factory riders on a sattelite ride? Which ride? Yamaha.
Maybe the kid will stay healthy and fast on a competitive sattelite squad and he can pick up Vale’s ride when he retires in 4 or 5 years.
You’re certain Honda is happy with their squad? You think Yamaha won’t make room for a 20-yr-old phenom for a year or so alongside a 40-yr-old phenom? Suzuki is happy with Joan Mir? KTM is happy battling to get inside the top 12?
Yes..Lorenzo will figure it out
Don’t think so.. Hard enough to juggle phenom Vinales and superstar Rossi..but if either one of them would decide to give it up or change teams …. I think they would, otherwise he will stay on a sattelite team just like Crutchlow or Miller on a factory par bike
I think Suzuki is happy with their combo and that Mir just needs a little more time, kinda like Lorenzo
I think KTM would love to be higher than the top 12, but they just signed French phenom Zarco who is not riding as well as Espagaro
I think Aprilia is also happy with their espargaro, but not so happy with Iannone and that is the seat that may be open next year.
Hey I could be wrong about all of that, but don’t believe so
I do believe that if any team gets an opening, that they would be very interested in Quatararo
You seem to forget his track record in the spanish championship, including 3 consecutive moto3 titles. The Spanish championship has groomed some of the best racers in motogp.
Exactly, how could you not know who this kid is???
To be fair, he didn’t do much in the Moto3 or Moto2 classes on the world level….4 podiums in 4 seasons isn’t exactly front page news.
Given that, I can see why he might be under the radar.
Sometimes the stats don’t tell the whole story, my point was the kid is fast, even at a world level he’s always been fast, just has never put it all together. Had bad luck, injuries, etc., but his abilities have always been there.
Unless a person has actively followed all 3 classes in MotoGP for several years, it is unlikely that they know much, if anything, about Quartararo. There are lots of backmarkers in all the classes, and a fair number of flash-in-the-pans.
Since 2015, he’s finished the season 10th & 13 in both Moto3 & Moto2. He had 4 podiums in 4 years – 2 2nd’s in Moto3 in 2015, and a 1st and a 2nd in Moto2 in 2018.
Even though the kid had an impressive start years ago, there is no reason most fans would be expecting much from him. He’s shown his talent this year, but even now he’s just 13th in the MotoGP championship.
FWIW, I expect him to do fairly well in MotoGP, but it s/b pretty obvious how people could not know who he is.
My guess is that Yamaha will keep him on his current team, but will upgrade his bike to more current specs if he continues to show potential.
I think Fab got a current factory spec bike for this years Moto GP and Frank got last years model. Somebody mentioned that Frank was swapping frames from past years looking for more traction. Petronas SRT has a big fat billfold, these boys are going nowhere.
They lost Zarco didn’t they?
Tech 3/Herve’ P. jumped Yamaha’s ship when KTM/Red Bull rattled the coin purse. The riders went with the team, although the sequence of any bidding war for JoZo was quickly squashed by KTM’s desire to have him ride for them. KTM made it known last year that they wanted JoZo. For the life of me I can’t figure out Yamaha, in that I mean it seems they let good riders slip thru their grasp all the time.