**This weekend, MotoGP made a stop at Jerez de la Frontera for the first European event of the season. An event that favored the Maralpins riders, Johann Zarco and Fabio Quartararo, in challenging conditions.**
The start of the European tour took place in **Jerez de la Frontera** in Spain. In mixed conditions, the Maralpins riders experienced varying fortunes. **Fabio Quartararo**, still not comfortable with his Yamaha, couldn’t do better than **17th place in qualifying**. Very frustrated after his Q1 elimination, the Nice native sounded the alarm: “these are sort of the times I was doing here six years ago. We know that without looking at last year’s times, if we look at my time six years ago, I did the same time as today. It’s unacceptable, I think.”
However, smiles were in order for **Johann Zarco**. Always strong in these difficult conditions, the Cannes native gave everything to secure the pole position. But **a fall in the last corner** deprived him of the holy grail by 0.140 seconds. Starting in **second position** for the rest of the weekend, hopes for good results were very high in the No. 5 box.
**Fabio Quartararo and Johann Zarco emerge from the chaos in sprint race**
At the start of the 12-lap **sprint race**, **Johann Zarco made a very good start** to retain second place. Quickly put under pressure by the Ducati riders, the Cannes native couldn’t resist for more than a lap before dropping one then two positions. In the battle for the podium, Johann Zarco showed he hadn’t lost any of his speed. But attacked from all sides, he eventually lost positions as **the rain came in**.
Behind, **Fabio Quartararo** managed to take advantage of the weather conditions to show all his talent and climb to 13th place just before mid-race, ahead of championship leader Marco Bezzecchi. After a nice battle behind, the Nice native eventually gave way but didn’t fall into disarray.
As the conditions became very complicated in the last five laps, everyone returned to the pits to change bikes amid general chaos with falls, overtakes, and trajectory errors. In this little game, **Fabio Quartararo ended up 7th** while **Johann Zarco**, having entered a lap earlier, lost more, ending in 13th position. But in the rain, the LCR Honda rider showed all his talent to quickly climb into the points and **finish 8th**, just behind Fabio Quartararo. It was the first time both Maralpins riders finished in the points in the sprint race this season.
Back in the paddock, **the two riders were generally satisfied**, starting with **Fabio Quartararo**: “it’s positive. If the conditions had remained dry, we clearly would have finished outside the top 10. Unfortunately, I entered too late, but I would say it’s still two points today.”
For **Johann Zarco**, even though the result could have been better, the comments were positive: “starting at the front, frankly, just in the first three laps, I believe I must gain at least three, four, five seconds compared to the group I’m usually in. That’s why it still remains an advantage. And tomorrow, there’s the chance to do even better things.”
**The Azureans in the rhythm on Sunday**
**On Sunday** for the Grand Prix, things went less well for the two Azureans. Making a worse start than the day before, Johann Zarco quickly dropped to 6th position after the first lap. Fabio Quartararo fared better by gaining three positions (14th). However, his race pace never allowed him to maintain the gap with the riders ahead of him over the 25 laps on the dry Jerez de la Frontera. The Nice native was blocking as the first Yamaha rider on the track… If “El Diablo” took advantage of mistakes and retirements of some riders ahead to snatch positions, he managed to finish the race in **14th position**. **Fabio Quartararo equalized his best result** of the season in the Grand Prix.
Taking advantage of Marc Márquez’s fall ahead, **Johann Zarco clung to the leaders** to hold his fifth place. Caught just before the first third of the race by Raúl Fernández, **the Frenchman wasn’t intimidated**. Regularly faster than the riders ahead, the Frenchman managed his tire wear well to keep his position. But four laps from the end, the Aprilia machines had kept a better tire capital. It was impossible for the Cannes native to resist their return. Nonetheless, **Johann Zarco** managed to **finish 7th in the Grand Prix**, his best result since the start of the year, far ahead of the other Honda machines. A lineup praised by his team upon his return to the stand after the Grand Prix.
Next weekend, **Johann Zarco and Fabio Quartararo will meet on home ground** to race in the French Grand Prix at the Le Mans Bugatti circuit. **A weekend expected to be full of emotion for Johann Zarco**, who won the race last year under similar conditions to those encountered in the middle of the weekend.
