Marc Marquez and Fabio Quartararo reduced to 'tortoise' jokes as struggles intensify
Instea🌳d, they were locked in an ꦚunderwhelming fight for 11th.
Six-time premier class champion Marquez crashed out of the British MotoGP after contract with Enea Bastianini, meaning after nine rounds in 202𝓡3 he 💮is has staggeringly not even finished a grand prix yet.
Fabio Quartararo & Marc Marquez battling for 11th place.
— Crash MotoGP (@crash_motogp)
Just a few years ago, ꦉthis woul﷽d be for 1st place.
Quartararo, th𝄹e 2021 MotoGP champion who only missed out on back-to-back titles on the final day of 2022, f🔯inished a drab 15th.
The ex-world champions shared a joke on social media about their pli♊ght ♌after the British MotoGP.
"What grip you had," Quartararo teased after Marquez posted𓆉 "a weekend of less to more".
Marquez replied: "What do 🐲you say about yo𝓡ur peak speed?"
Quartararo posted a tortoise in response, perhaps the only way he c💝ould sum up Yamaha's season so far.
The Japanese man🐬ufacturers, not so long ago the🤡 dominant force in MotoGP, have slipped so far behind Ducati, who now rule the roost.
Their new depths are to sඣlip convincingly behind KTM and Aprilia, the other Europe-based manufacturers.
At the British MotoGP, Franco Morbidelli finished 14th, the best finish for any Japanese bike. Quartararo was 15th, directly followed by the 🔜LCR Honda pair, the last riders to comple🗹te the race.
Marquez and Repsol Honda teammate Joan Mir both retired early - between them, they have completed just one Sunday race this season. That wasꦕ Mir at the season-opening Portimao.
Marquez and Quartararo, the two most esteemed riders on Japanese bikes, are unl𓂃ikely to leave for pastures new anytime soon. Their long and lucrative contracts are expected to tie them to Honda and Yamaha respectively, for 2024 at least.
James was a sports journalist at Sky Sports for a dꩵecade covering everything from American sports, to football, to F1⭕.
