Fabio Quartararo (Nice, April 20, 1999), started in the motorcycle world when he was four years old. After moving to Spain, he won the Promovelocidad Cup in the 50cc (2008), 70cc (2009) and 80cc (2011) categories. In 2012 he won the Mediterranean Speed Championship , a year before landing in the Spanish Moto3 Championship.
His debut in the national came with an FTR-Honda of the Wild Wolf Racing team, led by former driver Juan Bautista Borja . In his first race in the category, held at the Circuit de Barcelona Catalunya, he finished second. In the next five, he did not even get a top 5 and dropped down in the standings. However, El Diablo – a nickname by which he is known because of a Roberto Locatelli helmet he wore as a child – managed to win the last three and snatched the title from Marcos Ramírez by one point.
Quartararo became the second non-Spanish rider to win the CEV, after Stefan Bradl in 2007. In addition, at 14 years and 218 days , he snatched Aleix Espargaró’s precocity record.
The Frenchman had to continue in the internationalized FIM CEV Repsol in 2014, since he did not have the required 16 years to race in the World Championship after the minimum age was increased in 2010. Quartararo changed the Wild Wolf Racing team for Estrella Galicia 0.0 junior Team led by Emilio Alzamora . With a Honda, the boy from the Côte d’Azur swept the field: he won nine races and came second in the other two, proclaiming himself champion again with a 127-point advantage.
In August 2014 the Grand Prix Commission – formed by Dorna, the International Motorcycling Federation (FIM), the Teams Association (IRTA) and the Manufacturers Association (MSMA) – announced a change in the regulations to introduce an exception in the rule on the minimum age to race in the World Championship, establishing that the FIM CEV Moto3 champion, regardless of age, could compete in the World Championship the following season.
Nobody was unaware that the popularly known as ‘Quartararo Law’ was due to the fact that the Frenchman would not turn 16 until April 20, 2015, so he would miss the first races of the season as in 2003 happened to Jorge Lawrence .
Two years earlier, another precocious talent like Marc Márquez also forced the rules to change. Until then, it was established that no rookie could debut in MotoGP with an official motorcycle. In June 2012, the abolition of said rule was announced, which became known as the ‘Márquez Law’ and was able to reach Repsol Honda .
During 2018, a new exception to the age rule was introduced , which extended the clause from the winner of the FIM CEV Moto3 to that of the Red Bull Rookies Cup . The fault lies with the Turkish twins Can Öncü and Deniz Öncü, who were standing out in that promotion cup. Can, in fact, became the youngest winner in the history of the World Championship that year in his debut at the Valencia GP as a guest for having won the Red Bull Rookies Cup that year.
This same weekend, following the deaths of Jason Dupasquier , Hugo Millán and Dean Berta Viñales, in addition to other spectacular accidents that have occurred in 2021, the FIM announced the increase in the minimum age to compete in the World Championship to 18 years. So far no exception has been reported, so the ‘Quartararo Law’ has come to an end in the same Grand Prix in which he was crowned MotoGP world champion for the first time.
(Click on this link or on the photos to see Fabio Quartararo’s celebration)
