MotoGP is back this weekend in Austria. The battle for the championship remains very tight between Bagnaia and Martin. Improvements are still to be found for the Maralpines riders.
The Spielberg circuit in Austria hosted the eleventh round of the MotoGP championship. Half of the season has passed, and the lead of the championship continues to switch between Francesco Bagnaia and Jorge Martin. Twenty-four motorcycles were on the starting line this weekend, with two test riders present. Here’s a recap of the performances of Fabio Quartararo and Johann Zarco.
The First Japanese Motorcycle
Contrary to Silverstone, the weekend starts off rather well for Fabio Quartararo. He finishes fourteenth in Free Practice 1 and thirteenth in practice, just a tenth away from the top 10. The second free practice session on Saturday places him fifth, raising hopes for the qualification. Unfortunately, he is eliminated in Q1 and will start fifteenth. For the sprint race, “El Diablo” makes a good start and gains four positions. Alex Marquez crashes on the first lap, placing Fabio Quartararo in P10. A battle on the second lap with Oliveira leaves him losing two more positions. Marc Marquez also crashes, offering him P12. A second battle with Oliveira in the last lap this time makes him come out on top and allows him to finish twelfth. The Nice native still mentions having grip issues, especially at the rear of his Yamaha, and that it hardly turns. He plans to use the medium tire in the race to try to solve the problem.
Just before the race, Fabio Quartararo admits to being sick since the previous evening. Nevertheless, he makes a good start, placing him eleventh, but quickly loses positions during the first two laps. The race was very difficult with a significant lack of pace. He also received a penalty with a long lap to complete for track limits. He finishes in eighteenth place.
Still Sizeable Problems for Johann Zarco
The weekend start for the Cannes native follows the same pattern as all the others. He finishes sixteenth in Free Practice 1 and fourteenth in practice, just behind Fabio Quartararo. Free Practice 2 doesn’t go any better, as he ends up in sixteenth place again. The qualifying remains consistent with this pattern as he also doesn’t make it out of Q1, thus placing P17 on the grid. Yet, Johann Zarco makes a good start in the sprint race, allowing him to gain two positions, and even a third with Alex Marquez’s crash. However, he receives a warning for track limits. After that, positions remain unchanged, and he finishes fifteenth. He also complains about the grip and the problem of turning in corners and leaves very frustrated with his result.
As for the race, Johann Zarco makes a very poor start, placing him twenty-second. He quickly loses positions during the race and cannot recover. Jack Miller’s crash allows him to regain the twenty-third position. He finishes the Grand Prix in P21 after an overtake on the last lap.
