Very quick throughout the weekend, Fabio Quartararo unfortunately failed to convert his strong performances from practice into the race. After this race, the Nice native also lost the lead in the world championship.
Starting from third position in this 7th round of the season, the Petronas Yamaha rider had a great opportunity to score big points with the world championship in mind.
At the start, it was his teammate, the Italian Franco Morbidelli, who took the lead ahead of the legend Valentino Rossi who was racing at home in front of 10,000 spectators all cheering for him. Quartararo lost two places and found himself stuck behind his future Yamaha factory team teammate, Maverick Viñales, who had secured pole position. Gaps quickly formed, forcing Fabio to push in an attempt to overtake the Spaniard. In the 7th lap of the race, he seized an opportunity before making a mistake a few corners later.
Having restarted in last position, the world championship leader passed through the pits a few minutes after his crash, pretending to abandon before rejoining the track and crashing again, causing his definitive retirement this time.
It was a bad outcome for the Nice native, who saw his teammate Morbidelli lead the race from start to finish and claim his first career victory in MotoGP.
In the championship, Quartararo relinquished the lead to Ducati rider Andrea Dovizioso (76 points to Quartararo’s 70).
The next event is next weekend on the same circuit (from September 18 to 20).
