MotoGP: Quartararo and the curse of the last six championship races

Fabio Quartararo is not having an easy time of it lately. Hindered by an M1 in difficulty, the Frenchman has seen his championship lead over Pecco Bagnaia shrink race after race to the point that now, with two races to go, he finds himself trailing 14 points behind the Italian.

As we’ve said, there are many factors working against the current world champion right now, from the impressive performance of the Ducati fleet to Fabio’s complicated mental state, added to which there is a rather negative statistic.

If we look back at the last three years, we see that Quartararo has never managed to win any of the last six races of the season. The ‘curse’ began in 2020, when a fabulous season start was followed by a dramatic drop in the final stages, his best result an eighth place finish at the Teruel GP, which led to a final result of eighth in the general standings.

A script that doesn't change

The following year went better, the year he secured his first reigning class title. The Frenchman had to fend off attacks from Pecco Bagnaia, with two podiums at Misano 1 and Austin helping him to do just that before he won the championship at the next round.

And the same goes for this season, telling us that perhaps the trend is more than just a coincidence. After scoring seven podiums to date this season, the Frenchman is now suffering a low and has not seen a podium finish between Aragon and now, having scored just eight points in four races.

A trend that highlights just how much the season finale, and the related increase in pressure and significance, continues to be a problem for Fabio. Is this the final step he needs to take to become the perfect rider? Perhaps, but right now there’s a world championship to chase all the way to the final flag.

Traslated by Heather Watson

MOTOGP, THE CLINICA MOBILE CONFIRMS ITS DEPARTURE: "TAKEN BY SURPRISE, WE’LL SEEK OUT NEW CHALLENGES”