The Indonesian Grand Prix marks the start of the Asian tour in MotoGP. With a championship far from over, how did the two French riders fare this weekend?
If there were improvements to note for Fabio Quartararo at Misano, Johann Zarco, meanwhile, was still facing difficulties. With the Indonesian Grand Prix, a month and a half of races at the other end of the world begins for MotoGP. The championship remains very tight as about twenty points separate the two contenders for the title before the weekend begins. Here’s a look back at the performance of the two riders from the Alpes-Maritimes region.
All’s Well That Ends Well
After a good weekend last week, Fabio Quartararo is determined to continue on this path. He even sets a clear objective before the start: “The number one objective is to qualify in Q2.” Free practice 1 doesn’t quite go in this direction, as he finishes with the fifteenth best time. However, free practice 2 goes much better with him placing sixth. The objective is therefore achieved for the Nice-born rider, as he advances to Q2. Saturday starts off well for him. He finishes ninth in free practice 2.
In terms of qualifying, he finishes p6, placing him on the second row for both races, promising a good result. For the sprint race, he gets a fairly good start even though Marc Marquez overtakes him. Jorge Martin crashes on the second lap, allowing him to regain p6. From lap 8, it’s a downhill for Fabio Quartararo. He loses position after position and ends up twelfth. The rider is disappointed with this result: “We had the pace to finish fifth and we find ourselves twelfth. And we can’t understand why.”
For the main race, he makes the same good start as in the sprint race. Unfortunately, the tires are not in the right window, and he drops to thirteenth from the second lap. Fabio Di Giannantonio falls on the ninth lap, allowing him to recover twelfth place. A mechanical failure of Marc Márquez on the twelfth lap allows the Nice-born rider to move up to eleventh. Joan Mir crashes on the thirteenth lap, giving him another spot. On the nineteenth lap, he overtakes Brad Binder for eighth place. Enea Bastianini crashes on lap 21, giving Fabio Quartararo the opportunity to move up to seventh. He finishes the race seventh for the third time this season. With a significant improvement, he feels satisfied with his weekend: “I know I gave my best, and we performed well,” he says to Canal+.
A Good Surprise
The weekend for Johann Zarco was nothing but surprising. Free practice 1 sees him placing fifth. In the practices, he even clocks the second-best time. Keeping eleven minutes left in the session, he drops to p11 and misses Q2 by just 0.086. Saturday also goes well with an eleventh place in free practice 2.
The surprise comes in qualifying as he finds himself just behind his fellow French rider in seventh place. Regarding the sprint race, the Cannes-born rider makes a very poor start as he drops to twelfth in a single turn. An overtake on Jack Miller and Jorge Martin’s crash put him back in the top 10. On the seventh lap, the rider makes a very nice triple overtake in the last corner. Franco Morbidelli immediately overtakes him, and the position remains fixed for the Frenchman. He finishes eighth. It’s the first time this season he scores points in a sprint race, and he is satisfied: “The points in the sprint are so pleasing.”
Johann Zarco makes the same start as he did in the sprint race. He finds himself in p12 and then climbs steadily to ninth place. He is overtaken by Brad Binder on the fourth lap. The Cannes-born rider regains ninth place with Fabio Di Giannantonio’s fall. Maverick Viñales overtakes him a few corners later. He retakes ninth place with Marc Márquez’s mechanical failure. With Enea Bastianini’s crash and an overtake on Brad Binder, he returns to eighth place. The KTM rider overtakes him again in the penultimate lap. Johann Zarco finishes ninth. It was his best weekend of the season. “There was an opportunity, and I’m so glad I took it […] I scored nearly 10 points in one weekend, so it’s great,” he says in an interview.
Preparing for Next Season
The calendar for the 2025 season was announced this week, and the race at the Le Mans circuit will be held from May 9 to 11.
