La Massana (Andorra) (AFP)

"When you're between 13 and 16, that's where you have the most fun. Me, that's where I matured the most."

As a teenager, Quartararo already knew what he wanted: to be world champion.

As in France, he would have flown over his age categories, he left for Spain, where the junior championships are much more intense.

He flew over them all the same.

It is in fact from the age of 7 that he goes, some weekends, on a pilgrimage to this Mecca of motorcycle speed.

From his home in Nice, where he was born on April 20, 1999, his father, former French champion in 125 cm3, drives him in a truck.

"It was a minimum of 1200 km round trip," Quartararo told AFP in February, in his house in Andorra.

"These are the best memories, it was fun, we didn't think of anything else. I was going to play with my friends, when it was time to ride a motorbike, I was riding a motorbike. . There was no stress, it was pure fun. "

French rider Fabio Quartararo, riding his Honda, during Moto3 free practice for the Argentine Grand Prix, April 17, 2015 at the Termas de Rio Hondo circuit in Santiago del Estero, winner of the Spanish Motorcycle Championship race 3 (CEV), scheduled at Le Mans, May 17, 2014 JUAN MABROMATA AFP / Archives

"It changed my life"

Then, at 13, the fun was over.

Fabio leaves the family home and settles with his then manager, in Alfaz del Pi, on the Costa Blanca, near Alicante (south-east).

"Home, training, private lessons, training, house, every day. It was tough, it was a job. It changed my life."

We are in 2013. Juan Borja, trainer of Wild Wolf Racing in the Spanish Sprint Championship (CEV), found in the French teenager the driver he was looking for.

"Fabio was the best," the Spaniard told AFP at the start of the year.

"He made things easy for himself, everything seemed easy and that made the difference."

"He was a normal boy, a very good person, like his family. He especially liked training. The more he rode on a motorbike, the happier he was. He always thought of motorbike, motorbike, motorbike."

Fabio pursues his fixed idea in the very competitive CEV.

He remembers: "We were more than fifty on the grid, some could not be qualified, that taught me so many things. When we are 13, 14 years old, there are people of 16, 18 or even 20, 21 years old, and we know that this is the toughest championship in the world, we say to ourselves + I'm going to try to do my best. "

He realizes that "his best" is THE best: "from the first race in the rain, I am second, I am first in the championship after two races. So, quickly, I say to myself + I am here to win +, and I won the first year (with Wild Wolf, Editor's note), then the second (with another team). Extraordinary ".

The French Honda team rider, Fabio Quartararo, winner of the Spanish Moto 3 Championship (CEV) race, scheduled at Le Mans, May 17, 2014 JEAN-FRANCOIS MONIER AFP / Archives

At the origin of "El Diablo"

Borja explains: "Any driver who comes here and wins then goes to the World Championship to play the leading roles".

This is what Quartararo is doing in Moto3 (2015, 2016), in Moto2 (2017, 2018), then in MotoGP from 2019, to finally shine at the world level.

At 22, for his third season in the top flight, the Niçois knew he could aim for the Grail, being promoted to the official Yamaha team.

The French rider of the Speed ​​Up team, Fabio Quartararo, winner of the Moto2 race of the Catalan Grand Prix, June 17, 2018 at the Montmelo circuit Josep LAGO AFP / Archives

"Of course he can do it if he has the right bike for him and if Yamaha works to ensure he has everything he needs," Borja said at the time.

Because "the only fault I can find in him is when he didn't have the bike he wanted, he got angry a lot, maybe too much. He was a child, he always wanted the best. and sometimes it was not possible ".

In Spain, Quartararo developed his level, shaped his character and also found his nickname "El Diablo", a reference to the devil drawn on his child's helmet, a replica of that of the former Italian pilot Roberto Locatelli.

The French rider of the Petronas Yamaha SRT team, Fabio Quartararo, during qualifying for the MotoGP French Grand Prix, October 10, 2020 on the Le Mans circuit JEAN-FRANCOIS MONIER AFP / Archives

In 2020, still in Spain, he won his first three MotoGP victories.

But, without succeeding in winning elsewhere, he did not do better than a final 8th place in the world.

In 2021, "the Spaniard" Quartararo took off, winning five Grands Prix outside Spain ... and none on the grounds of his first exploits.

Before, to end the year on a high note, a success in Valence on November 14?

© 2021 AFP