Moto GP: "Quartararo is at the same level as Mbappé"

 Moto GP: "Quartararo is at the same level as Mbappé"

Author of pole position at Le Mans, Frenchman Fabio Quartararo had to settle for 9th place. The only consolation: he keeps the lead of the World Championship.
Italian Danilo Petrucci (Ducati) won the French MotoGP Grand Prix on Sunday, Frenchman Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha-SRT), who finished 9th, retaining the lead of the world championship with ten points ahead of the Spaniard Joan Mir (Suzuki), himself 11th.
The race was disrupted by the rain which started to fall just before the start, forcing the drivers to put on wet tires. Several crashes resulted, including that of veteran Italian Valentino Rossi (Yamaha), on the first lap. Petrucci beat Spaniards Alex Marquez (Honda), the younger brother of six-time world champion Marc Marquez, and Pol Espargaro (KTM).


Starting from pole position, Quartararo missed his start, quickly falling back into the peloton. He then chose caution to secure points in the championship and avoid the fall.
Petrucci's victory is the 7th for a different driver this year in 9 races, the season being marked by the absence of Marc Marquez who broke his arm in the first round and did not participate in a race since.

"It's incredible. When I saw the rain I said to myself + it's not possible + but I'm still good in the rain and I couldn't dream of winning here again ”, underlined Danilo Petrucci, whose second victory in MotoGP is and who had finished on the podium in the last two editions of the MotoGP French GP at Le Mans. The other Frenchman entered in Moto GP, Johann Zarco (Ducati-Avintia), finished 5th, after a very good comeback.

Precarious adhesion
The cool temperatures during the weekend were already a problem for the riders who were struggling to fit their tires enough to increase grip. But the rain turned everything upside down, forcing them to change gum at the last moment.

Even though the track gradually dried up during the race, the grip conditions remained very precarious, pushing not only Valentino Rossi but also the Spaniard Alex Rins (Suzuki) who was fighting for the lead as well as Britons Bradley Smith (Aprilia) and Cal Crutchlow (Honda), and Italian Franco Morbidelli, Fabio Quartararo's teammate.
Rins managed to set off again but made several laps with a strap used by the marshals to remove his motorcycle from the gravel attached to the back of his machine. He was forced to stop at the edge of the runway to remove it.

In such conditions, caution was called for and Fabio Quartararo, rather than playing the first places, remained very cautious. At 21, he is only in his second season at the highest level but is asserting himself, in the absence of Marc Marquez, as one of the most serious contenders for the title.

Joan Mir, his most direct rival, had completely missed his qualifications and started only 14th on the grid. He also played it safe but was unable to finish ahead of the Frenchman who suddenly saw his lead in the championship drop from 8 to 10 points while there are 5 races to go, the next in Jerez (Spain) on the weekend. next.
The Italian Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati) finished in 4th place and is 18 points behind the Frenchman.

While most of the championship events have so far been held behind closed doors due to the new coronavirus, that of Le Mans welcomed a few thousand spectators under strict sanitary conditions.