The cold shower. No first victory for Johann Zarco, nor a podium for Fabio Quartararo. After brilliant qualifying in which Johann Zarco took pole position and Fabio Quartararo took 4th place, the two French riders struggled at the Silverstone Grand Prix for the resumption of the MotoGP World Championship after a month’s break. .
However, the race had started ideally for the two Frenchies since they occupied the first two places after the first corner. But what followed turned out to be more complicated. While leading the race solidly, Zarco crashed in a slow turn. Quartararo was given a penalty and dropped from 2nd to 5th place. The rest of his race was very difficult. After his retirement in Assen during the last GP, the Yamaha rider was not flamboyant, finally finishing in a modest 8th place.
But the reigning world champion did not do such a bad job since he slightly increased his lead at the top of the general classification over his runner-up Aleix Espargaró (9th). The native of Nice has 22 points over the Spanish driver and 49 points over the Italian Francesco Bagnaia (3rd). Johann Zarco slipped to 5th place. Next meeting at the Spielberg circuit on Sunday August 21 in Austria. A reaction from the French pilots is expected.