Japan hosts the last of three consecutive weeks of Moto GP races. A one-week break will be required before Australia. But did the Motegi track bring luck to our two French riders?
After a very good weekend for both riders in Indonesia, we could hope for the same in Japan. However, numerous mistakes by Yamaha compromised Fabio Quartararo’s weekend. Johann Zarco, on the other hand, managed to limit the damage. Here’s a look back at the performance of the two Maralpins.
Costly mistakes
The weekend was anything but restful for Fabio Quartararo. It started badly with a p17 in free practice 1. One might think it was due to poor settings, yet the practice sessions confirmed this lackluster performance. He finished fourteenth due to a fuel shortage. Therefore, he had to go through Q1 in qualifying. Free practice 2 only reinforced the doubts as he finished seventeenth. Fortunately, he finished second in Q1, allowing him to advance to Q2. The lack of grip was too much, causing him to lose time on the riders ahead. He therefore placed twelfth on the grid for both races.
In the sprint race, an average start for the Nice rider saw him lose two positions. Takaaki Nakagami’s crash on lap 5 allowed him to reclaim a position. Pedro Acosta also crashed on the ninth lap. After a ghost-like race due to lack of grip, he finished twelfth.
The start of the main race was also average, as he lost a position. The group being quite compact, he moved up to eleventh place with the crashes of Joan Mir and Álex Márquez. Marco Bezzecchi overtook Fabio Quartararo in the second lap. Pedro Acosta crashed on the fourth lap, allowing the Frenchman to move up to eleventh. Maverick Viñales also crashed on lap 12, helping him gain a position. After that, positions remained stable for the rest of the race. Unfortunately, yet another fuel shortage in the very last corner caused him to finish twelfth. He expressed his anger to Canal +: “Already we’re ridiculous on the track, if in addition we’re ridiculous with fuel shortages […] I don’t know what we’re doing about that, but it’s unacceptable.”
Fifth consecutive weekend in the points
A less complicated weekend for Johann Zarco. After an eighth place in free practice 1 which could have hinted at good news, he found himself seventeenth in practice. He too had to go through Q1. He finished sixteenth in free practice 2 as he crashed at turn number 6, fortunately without injury. Johann Zarco did not have as much luck as his compatriot in Q1 and ended up sixth in his group, thus ending his qualification there. He started sixteenth for both races.
A fairly good start in the sprint race for the Cannes native. However, he lost one position. A contact with Joan Mir in the second lap dropped him to twentieth place. He gradually climbed back, and some incidents like his teammate’s crash helped him move up. However, he received a long lap penalty for contact with Joan Mir, but he managed to maintain his position. An overtaking maneuver on Augusto Fernández and Pedro Acosta’s crash allowed him to finish in fourteenth place. Johann Zarco also explained his few gained positions to Canal +: “I have too much power loss on acceleration, I can’t position myself where I want at corner entries, so I’m struggling a bit.”
In the main race, he lost one position at the start. He also took advantage of the compact group and overtook four riders at the same corner as Fabio Quartararo, placing him thirteenth after the crashes. Fabio Di Giannantonio passed Johann Zarco in the third lap. Pedro Acosta’s crash allowed the Cannes native to move up to thirteenth. He moved up to twelfth thanks to Maverick Viñales’ crash. He finished the race in eleventh place after his compatriot faced fuel issues, allowing him to overtake.
