French eyes on Quartararo at Le Mans

● In only his fifth MotoGP, 20-year-old Fabio Quartararo will be the centre of attention today for the race at Le Mans in his native France.

Two weeks ago in Jerez the rookie from Nice became the youngest man to take pole position in a grand prix, breaking the record set in 2013 by the sport’s dominant rider, Marc Marquez.

Marquez still won the race, while Quartararo was forced out by mechanical problems with his Yamaha, but he has taken encouragement from his form in qualifying and post-race testing.

“We can only draw positive conclusions from the Spanish GP. We took pole position,” he told the Yamaha SRT website.

“We were fighting for the podium and on Monday we were the fastest at the test while we were trying out many things for the coming races.”

He is looking forward to racing in front of French fans for the first time since stepping up to MotoGP this season.

“It’s good to go to Le Mans after a great weekend like we had at Jerez.

“There will be a lot of fans at the French GP and that will give me extra motivation,” he said.

Meanwhile, the five-time world champion, title-holder and winner last year, Marquez is again leading the standings after two wins and a second in the first three races. But he is only one point ahead of fellow Spaniard Alex Rins.

The gap is so small because Marquez crashed while leading the Grand Prix of the Americas. His Honda can be lively.

Two Italians, Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso and veteran Valentino Rossi, are third and fourth in the standings.—