Motorsport Week begins its MotoGP Season Review feature pieces by delving into the rookie season of Fabio Quartararo, who emerged from Moto2 mid-grid obscurity to seriously threaten runaway champion Marc Marquez in 2019.
It’s fair to say many were underwhelmed when the new-for-2019 Petronas Sprinta Racing Yamaha satellite team announced Fabio Quartararo would partner Franco Morbidelli, having failed to agree terms with the likes of Dani Pedrosa and Jorge Lorenzo.
Once upon a time Quartararo was regraded as one of the rising stars of grand prix motorcycle racing, having graduated to the Moto3 World Championship off the back of a dominant CEV Moto3 campaign in which he won nine of the 11 races, closing the year 127 points clear of Jorge Navarro.
He impressed in his first year at world championship level too, scoring two rostrum results on the way to 10th overall, despite missing most of the second half of the year through injury.
Things started to go downhill though, with a severely sub-par sophomore Moto3 season followed by a relatively anonymous first year in Moto2 with the front-running Pons team.
By this point the young Frenchman was beginning to run out of options and joined the factory Speed Up squad for what would ultimately turn out to be a career-defining season.
Quartararo struggled for consistency on the ever-evolving Speed Up chassis but displayed blistering speed on occasion, securing victory at Barcelona, before adding another at Motegi, prior to disqualification for a tyre pressure infringement.
That exclusion had not mattered as he had reminded the paddock of his ability, and in timely fashion too, as the Petronas squad decided he was worth the risk to join them for their maiden MotoGP foray, with the team regarding Morbidelli as a known quantity.
He immediately impressed with fifth on the grid for the season opener at in Qatar and, despite picking up a ride-through penalty for a jump-start after getting a little too eager to get his his first premier class race underway, displayed impressive speed relative to more experienced 2017 Moto2 title winning team-mate Morbidelli.
He then stunned the world as he bagged the Petronas SRT squad's first pole position at just the fourth round of the year at Jerez, with Morbidelli joining him on the front row in a historic 1-2 for the new team.
.jpg)
Quartararo rode superbly in the race and was poised for a maiden podium until the gearbox packed up, forcing him out.
He had made his mark though, and set the record straight as he cruised to a stunning second just three races later in Barcelona, doubling up just a fortnight later as he took third in the Dutch TT at Assen. Both of those results were achieved from pole position, with Quartararo's speed meaning his presence at the front was gradually regarded as an expectation and not an anomaly.
He went on tosecure a further five podiums before the season was out, alongside another three pole positions, on his way to fifth in the Riders' standings. That placed him ahead of Morbidelli and factory Yamaha pilot Valentino Rossi in what was the arguably the strongest rookie campaign since Marquez.
Quartararo’s first year, as well as his smooth and precise riding style, also bears a striking resemblance to that of his childhood hero Lorenzo, who went on to secure three championships with Yamaha.
The only element missing from Quartararo’s 2019 CV was a maiden victory. He came agonisingly close to scoring it at Misano, where he led nearly every lap and was denied by Marquez on the final tour. In Thailaind he came close once more, losing to Marquez in a last-lap duel. The 20-year-old is almost certainly likely to be the World Champion's strongest threat next year.
.jpg)
