There were just under three minutes to go in FP3 of the MotoGP German Grand Prix and the Ducati and Aprilia riders were shaking the timer, beating and beating the Sachsenring track record, which was ultimately held by Pecco Bagnaia ( 1,19,765).
Quartararo’s helmet visor unhooked
Fabio Quartararo, leader of the world championship and the only one with a Japanese motorcycle who seemed to be able to be in the middle of that battle, was preparing to make his final attack on the clock, with a new soft rear tire and a free track ahead. Before crossing the finish line to start his flying lap, the Frenchman turned his head back to see if someone was following him and with that simple turn, the wind penetrated the visor of his helmet, lifted it and with the blow he detached it from the button side that holds it, the left, specifically.
Quartararo trying to hook the visor to his helmet
Quartararo noticed something strange and quickly realized that the visor had come out of its place, he tried to hook it with his left hand, then with both, hitting the side of the helmet, without success. Seconds passed and that didn’t work.
Moment in which Quartararo turns and the wind lifts and unhooks the visor of his helmet
On paper, his fifth position at that time on the time sheet did not seem to jeopardize his passage to Q2, although the times of the rivals were falling and, in fact, he finally finished sixth and first, which he did not manage to get below 1.20 .
With the end of the session already ruined, Fabio returned to the garage to change his helmet and immediately return to the track to rehearse the start, a factor that we already know has become vital in MotoGP races. And there came the other curious image, the Frenchman arrived at the box and his assistant helped him put on the new helmet, all against the clock because the seconds were falling. On television it could be seen that Fabio got on his Yamaha with 7 seconds to go in the session, and with 1 to go he was about 50 meters from the pitlane starting line, at which point the TV production changed the shot , so we don’t know if the Devil came out on the track with the traffic light green or red…
00.07 seconds from the end of FP3 Quartararo leaves the Yamaha garage
One detail that should be mentioned at this point is that the Yamaha box is the first box in the pitlane, the one closest to the start, which helped Quartararo. The choice of the garages is made between two and three weeks before each grand prix, each team, in order of classification from last year, chooses which box they want to be in. This time Yamaha chose to be first, and that has benefited them.
At 00.01 seconds for the pitlane to close, Quartararo can still be seen more than 30 or 40 meters from the traffic light line
First the jumpsuit, now the helmet
It is not the first time that Quartararo has had problems with his equipment. Last year in Barcelona the zipper of his suit was opened in the race, which ended up costing him a time penalty and two positions in the standings.
Now it has been the case, specifically the visor, something that the manufacturer, in this case Scorpion, owned by the Korean firm KIDO Sports, must investigate and clarify because, without falling or hitting it, the visor has opened and detached from this way. Already last year, the manufacturer of the overalls used by Fabio immediately reviewed the closure of the garments to ensure that what happened would not be repeated.
