Jerez de la Frontera (Spain) (AFP)

Fabio Quartararo won the MotoGP Grand Prix of Spain on Sunday, his first success in the queen category of motorcycle sport and the first victory of a French driver since Régis Laconi in 1999.

The young 21-year-old Frenchman, who started in MotoGP only last year, had seen victory escape him several times over the racing science of Marc Marquez, the six-time Spanish world champion, who has already clearly identified Fabio Quartararo as his main rival.

But on Sunday it was Marquez who bit the dust, and even violently since he was evacuated from the track of the Jerez circuit on a stretcher after trying in vain to catch up with the race leaders after a first error.

"P ... it's the best day of my life," exclaimed Quartararo after the finish, then showing himself visibly moved on the podium as the Marseillaise sounded.

He is only the 4th French driver to win an event in the queen category after George Monneret in 1954, Christian Sarron in 1985 and therefore Régis Laconi.

Starting in pole position, Quartararo had to give ground in the first laps of the race, especially against Marquez and another Spaniard Maverick Vinales.

But an error by Marquez, who came out in the gravel, then one by Vinales allowed him to take the lead so as not to leave it until the finish line which he crossed with almost five seconds ahead on Vinales, second.

Marquez then started a fantastic ascent which brought him from 18th to 3rd place before committing a new error and making an impressive caper from which he rose visibly very sore, with a humerus fracture which will require an operation.

"I haven't really seen Marc's race except that he has again achieved an extraordinary + rescue," noted Quartararo, who was following him then. He hopes that the Spanish champion will be restored for the next race and finds that he has obviously lost nothing of his speed.

"Anyone can have an accident or technical problems," Quartararo said in a press conference, refusing to sink his prestigious rival.

- Rossi's successor -

The Frenchman is running this year, like last year, for Yamaha's satellite team, Petronas-SRT. After finishing 5th in the championship in 2019, he already knows that he will join the Yamaha factory stable next year, taking the saddle of the Italian legend Valentino Rossi, seven-time world champion but who today has two times his age.

As a sign of this planned transfer of power, Rossi failed Sunday in the gravel trap while his young successor won his first victory on the handlebars of a machine this year with the latest developments designed by the factory.

The podium was completed by Vinales (Yamaha), 2nd, and the Italian Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati) 3rd.

The Spanish GP was the first round of the MotoGP 2020 world championship, the start of which was delayed by several months due to the coronavirus epidemic.

A minute of silence was observed before the start of the race for the victims of this disease to which Quartararo also paid tribute after his victory.

This naturally allows him to take the lead in the world championship whose next event, the GP of Andalusia, will take place on this same circuit of Jerez next Sunday.

The calendar of the championship was upset by the pandemic and, like Formula 1, its organizers decided to plan several races on the same circuits and to reduce the number of scheduled events.

© 2020 AFP