The talent, the precocity, then the coronation.
Fabio Quartararo wrote, on Sunday, one of the most beautiful pages in the history of French motorsport.
If the automobile categories have had their share of champions in the top echelons of the various disciplines, “El Diablo” is none other than the first world champion in the premier class in speed motorcycles, MotoGP.
At just 22 years old, the third youngest driver in history to win the Grail has scored a sport in which six Habs have been crowned, but (almost) all in lower categories.
Quickly mature on his machine, Fabio Quartararo, who learned his skills thanks to a Spanish training, joined the elite in 2019, at just 20 years old, after two seasons in Moto3, and two in Moto2.
It took him three years to win in the big leagues and become world champion in MotoGP.
FRANCE'S HERO 🇫🇷 @ FabioQ20 IS THE 2021 #MotoGP WORLD CHAMPION 🏆 and becomes the first Frenchman to clinch a premier class title!
🙌
Congratulations, Fabio!
👏 # ELD1ABLO 😈 pic.twitter.com/vWvvn6Z74z
- MotoGP ™ 🏁 (@MotoGP) October 24, 2021
Patrick Pons the pioneer
Only Jean-Louis Tournadre had also won a title after three seasons on his bike, but his only coronation, in 1982, had been won in the 250cc category.
Like Tournadre, Christian Sarron (1984, 250cc), Olivier Jacque (2000, 250cc), Arnaud Vincent (2002, 125cc) and Mike Di Meglio (2008, 125cc) have gleaned a world title in the lower categories.
But to really register Quartararo in the footsteps of a French driver, we have to go back to 1979, when Patrick Pons became the first French world champion in motorsports, by winning, him, in the premier category of his time, the 750cc.
He had nevertheless waited until he was 27 years old to climb to the top, before dying the following year in an accident on the Silverstone circuit.
Only Johann Zarco, still active and wrestling with Quartararo in MotoGP, has won the world crown twice (2015 and 2016), but it was once again Moto2 titles.
Fabio, at the origins of Quartararo 👶🏆 # EmiliaRomagnaGP # ELD1ABLO
▶ ️ https://t.co/6vTgdTN2gP pic.twitter.com/WocTLHjrP8
- CANAL + MotoGP ™ (@CanalplusMotoGP) October 24, 2021
Earlier than the best racing drivers
In the other clan of mechanical sports, on the other hand, the French titles in the premier category have fallen in abundance in the automotive disciplines.
The first big name to shine was Alain Prost with his 4 coronations in Formula 1 (1985, 1986, 1989, 1993).
He remains to this day the only French world champion in his sport, but took eight years longer than Fabio Quartararo to lift his first trophy.
Also on the circuit, Yvan Muller made a name for himself in the WTCC category of the World Touring Car Championship, with as many titles as Alain Prost (2008, 2010, 2011, 2013).
But the undisputed masters in terms of tricolor mechanical achievements remain the rally champions.
In the WRC, the benchmark in off-road racing, Sébastien Loeb (9 consecutive titles) and Sébastien Ogier (7 titles) passed the torch to dominate in all respects the decades 2000 and 2010. And once again, both waited reach the thirties to win at the highest level.
Today, Fabio Quartararo therefore joins the pantheon of the greatest French pilots in history.
And, even if the road remains long to glean as many crowns as the aforementioned legends, its precocity allows it to hope to fill a prize list which begins to be written in the most beautiful way.