The last Doha Grand Prix is a milestone for French motorcycle speed thanks to the double achieved by Fabio Quartararo and Johann Zarco in MotoGP. The victory of the Yamaha rider and the second place of the Ducati Pramac tamer provided a podium that will be remembered. But given the level displayed by the two compatriots, it cannot be said that this delightful spectacle will not be repeated again in a season led, for the moment, by our double Moto2 World Champion...
fabio quartararo et John Zarco seemed to get along like thieves on the podium of the Doha Grand Prix punctuated by a Marseillaise sung by the French winner and his compatriot, second in what was also the closest race in the history of the category.
The statistics have thus panicked in this second round of a 2021 season which promises to be as competitive as the last. Thus, the top 15 of the race MotoGP was united in only 8,928 seconds, far beating the previous all-time record of 15,093 seconds during Qatar 2019.
Likewise, since the 2020 Czech Grand Prix, there have been 14 races in a row without any drivers linking two consecutive victories, which matches what happened between Pacífico 2002 and Czech Republic 2003. There has only been one longer period without any drivers repeats a consecutive victory: the 22 races between the Netherlands 1999 and Portugal 2000.
It is therefore from this melee that they emerged victorious fabio quartararo et Johann zarco, which further enhances their achievement. Thanks to the latter, for the first time in history, the France managed to win in the premier category for two consecutive seasons. With the victory of fabio quartararo and the second position of Johann zarco, it is the first time in history that France has occupied the first two places in the major Grand Prix category.
It is also the second time with two French people on the podium in the flagship discipline. The first was in France in 1954, with the victory of Pierre Monneret and third place in Jacques Collot. This is the fourth season with two French people on the podium at this level of competition. It happened in 1954 (Pierre Monneret and Jacques Collot), in 1985 (Christian Sarron and Raymond Roche) and 2020 et 2021 (Fabio Quartararo and Johann Zarco). This is therefore the first time that France has seen two different drivers reach the podium in the same year in the premier category in two consecutive seasons.
Johann Zarco and Fabio Quartararo take care of their CVs
As for fabio quartararo, with this fourth victory in MotoGP, he equals Reg Armstrong, Libero Liberati (500cc champion in 1957), John Kocinski and Tadayuki Okada in the premier category. This is his fifth victory overall, tying compatriots Jean François Balde, Mike Di Meglio and Randy De Puniet.
This is his fourth victory with Yamaha , equaling those won by Randy Mamola in 500cc with the brand of tuning forks. He is the fifth driver to achieve four victories before his 22nd birthday, tied with Randy Mamola, who he could only beat if he wins in Portugal, and behind Freddie spencer (8) Casey Stoner (9) et Marc Márquez (19)
We will recall that Johann zarco has 16 Grand Prix victories, but none in MotoGP, and is a double Moto2 World Champion. He is the one who will show up at the next Portuguese Grand Prix as leader of the MotoGP World Championship.
MotoGP Championship ranking after Doha (2/19) :
