Quartararo: Mugello win “not a great feeling” after Dupasquier death
MotoGP Italian Grand Prix winner Fabio Quartararo admits his Mugello victory comes with “not a great feeling” following the tragic death of Moto3 racer Jason Dupasquier.
Swiss rider Dupasquier was involved in a horror accident in qualifying for the Moto3 class on Saturday at Mugello and had to be airlifted to hospital in Florence, where he was said to have been in a “very serious condition”.
Tragically, the 19-year-old succumbed to his injuries, with MotoGP issuing a statement on Sunday morning that Dupasquier had passed away.
The MotoGP paddock held a minute of silence on the grid ahead of the 23-lap premier class race, with the riders carrying tributes to Dupasquier.
Quartararo dominated the Mugello race after an early crash for Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia, with the Yamaha rider easing to his third win of the season.
Dedicating his win to Dupasquier, Quartararo admits every time he passed through Arrabiatta 2 where the incident happened he was thinking of the young Swiss rider.
“Strange, strange day,” Quartararo said in parce ferme after the race.
“Honestly, [there was] a lot of emotions before starting the race.
“I get emotional really fast in every condition, so to start the race during that one minute of silence was really difficult and every time I cross Turn 9, I was thinking about Jason.
“This one is for him. Yes, in general it has been a good weekend for us.
“I also want to dedicate this one to my mum, which in France it’s mother’s day.
“It’s not a great feeling. You achieve a win, but we lose one of our friends. So, it’s not easy.”
Race winner Fabio Quartararo, Yamaha Factory Racing
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Quartararo continued to pay tribute to the late Dupasquier in muted podium celebrations after the race, with the Yamaha rider carrying a Swiss flag onto the rostrum.
Dupasquier’s death has been met with widespread messages of condolences from the motorsport world on social media.
Earlier in the day, Dupasquier’s Prustel GP team withdrew from the Moto3 race, while his fellow Swiss rider Tom Luthi pulled out of the Moto2 contest to be with Dupasquier on Sunday.
Quartararo now holds a 24-point lead in the championship standings heading to next weekend’s Catalan Grand Prix, with Johann Zarco his nearest rival now after finishing fourth at Mugello on his Pramac Ducati.
Share Or Save This Story
MotoGP 2025: Full rider line-up revealed
A year on from Marquez’s Germany MotoGP meltdown, has Honda improved?
What’s behind MotoGP’s right-hander chaos in Germany practice?
Fabio Quartararo forced to leave Monster as Red Bull returns to Honda
Fabio Quartararo: MotoGP should have the same number of sprints as F1
Fabio Quartararo wades into Francesco Bagnaia's struggles: ‘I’d be furious'
The wide world of strategy options expected in F1's Bahrain GP in Malaysia
Max Verstappen responds to George Russell: "Maybe I should take him to the sauna!"
How the FIA plans to differentiate between Rally1 and Rally2 in WRC 2027
“Too slow” Marco Bezzecchi baffled by lack of pace in Japanese GP sprint
How to make two MotoGP grids with a single qualifying session
What we learned from an emotional MotoGP Austrian Grand Prix
Are Aprilia riders making it too easy for Marc Marquez to win the 2026 MotoGP title?
What we learned from MotoGP’s decisive San Marino Grand Prix
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments