It is called “The devil” or the “Little Prince”. Now he is crowned. This Sunday, Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha) became the MotoGP world champion. At only 22 years old, he is thus the first Frenchman to win this title in the premier category.
Starting from 15th place, he made an impressive comeback and finished fourth in the race. A result sufficient to secure his victory in the championship while there are still two races until the end of the season, since his direct competitor, the Italian Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati) fell five laps before the end.
The performance is symbolic for Fabio Quartararo since it comes the same year as the retirement of the “Hero of [son] childhood”, the seven-time world champion Valentino Rossi. At the age at which Rossi obtained his first elite title twenty years ago, Quartararo is riding his Yamaha in his footsteps, and in those of the Spaniard Marc Marquez, crowned six times in MotoGP since 2013.
Born in Nice on April 20, 1999, from a father, Etienne, locksmith and French champion 125 cm³, and from a mother, Martine, hairdresser, Fabio has always been in the motorcycle, which he discovers on a small «piwi» from Yamaha, already. His parents quickly realize it, the little one has talent. So to flourish, at the age of 7, he left for Spain with his father, who never backed down from any round trip of more than 1,000 km so that Fabio could face rivals at his level. There, he went on to success and ended up settling, at the age of 13, near Alicante, with his manager at the time.
After half-hearted passages by Moto3 in 2015 and 2016 (2 podiums and 2 poles in the first year), then Moto2 in 2017 and 2018 (2 podiums, including 1 victory, and 1 pole in the second year), the French hope finally confirmed in MotoGP the following year, with 7 podiums and 6 poles. Before winning in 2020 the first French victory in the premier category since that of Régis Laconi in Valence in 1999.
For Quartararo, the consecration comes during his third season in MotoGP, the first with the Yamaha factory team, after two years with the Yamaha-SRT satellite team. Out of 16 GP contested in 2021, he won 10 podiums, including 5 victories, and 5 pole positions. The last two rounds of the season will take the drivers to the Algarve (Portugal) on November 7 and Valencia (Spain) on the 14th.
