Two months ago, Fabio Quartararo made his childhood dream come true. The 22-year-old driver became world champion when Pecco Bagnaia crashed at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix . A historic moment for French motorcycling, which in 73 years had never won the MotoGP title.
His coronation was the culmination of a strong season for Quartararo, who was able to put the lessons learned to use in a bitter end to 2020 , where he scored his first wins and was in contention for the title. Capable of winning five times this year, he has based his success above all on the perseverance that he lacked a season before, managing to score points in all the races until he tied up the championship.
“It’s an unforgettable moment, a childhood dream,” recalled Fabio Quartararo on the Canal+ France program, La Grille en fête . “And above all, it was at a time I didn’t expect. Bagnaia was first, I was starting 15th, I was 17th at the first corner. I had a great race, I was fourth, and he made that mistake. They are, of course, emotions that I will never forget”.
At that moment, the rider from Nice immediately thought of his parents and the sacrifices they made to allow him to ride a motorcycle from a very young age.
“Most of the time I had flashbacks of difficult times,” he said. “When I won the title, the first thing I thought about was not even me, but above all all the moments I spent with my parents. My father did not have a normal life because he worked from Monday to Friday, on Saturday and Sunday we went to training, and then it would start again from Monday to Friday. My mother stayed home alone with my brother. So it was mainly those moments that I remembered.”
Still in the bubble of competition for the next month, El Diablo was slow to really realize what he had just achieved.
“The next day was weird. Of course, I celebrated with the team and with my family, but when I woke up the next day I didn’t feel like a world champion. It took me a month to realize it, especially seeing a lot of photos, watching the celebration Also thanks to that I was able to realize [that I had won] the championship, but it took me a long time.”
“From the day after Valencia , I was in 2022 mode,” said the French driver, who is already thinking about his next goal: defending the title.
“I haven’t stopped training. I took a vacation, but although I was able to enjoy myself, I kept training. I’m not going to say that I’m going to work more because, honestly, in 2021 I worked a lot, but in any case I’m ready for this challenge. I know very well It’s going to be difficult, but if I’ve done it once I can do it again,” he stressed.
(Click on this link or on the image to see the photos of Fabio Quartararo’s 2021 season in MotoGP)
