Fab Fabio: The Man to Beat Marquez?
THERE IS ONE BIG THING THAT SEPARATES Fabio Quartararo from MotoGP’s other recent rookie revelations, Marc Marquez, Maverick Viñales, Johann Zarco, and Alex Rins. All those four arrived in the premier class riding an impressive upward curve: winning in 125s or Moto3, then winning in Moto2.
Quartararo did not. When the French kid was 14, he won the Spanish CEV Moto3 championship and the following year he retained the title. MotoGP talent-spotters called him the next Marquez. Dorna, the FIM, IRTA, and the MSMA were so convinced of this that they changed the rules specifically to allow Quartararo to contest the 2015 Moto3 world championship before he had reached the minimum age of 15.
Some paddock people even predicted that he would win the title at his first attempt, which no one ever said of Marquez, Viñales, Zarco or Rins.
Quartararo made his Grand Prix début in Qatar in March 2015 and gradually sunk, almost without trace. He finished his rookie season 10th overall, lost his ride, got a ride with another team for 2016, and ended up three places lower. In 2017, he moved to Moto2, hoping to bring his career back to life. It didn’t work. He completed his first Moto2 campaign down in 13th and changed teams
