Alpinestars: Initial analysis shows Quartararo leathers 'fully functioning'
'Upon initial analysis [Alpinestars] found the suit to be in normal working order with all zippers and fasteners fully functioning' – no obvious cause for Fabio Quartararo's Catalunya MotoGP troubles.
Alpinestars was unable to find any defect with the leathers of MotoGP title leader Fabio Quartararo during checks immediately after the Catalunya race.
The zip on the front of Quartararo's leathers came undone, for unknown reasons, through the Turn 1-3 area on lap 21 of 24. The Yamaha rider then discarded his chest protector and completed the race with the leathers open.
Although this put Quartararo in breach of the rider's safety equipment rules - which state leathers and chest protector 'must be worn, correctly fastened, at all times during on-track activity' - he was surprisingly not black-flagged and allowed to finish in third place.
That became fourth when the Frenchman was penalised for cutting Turn 2 late in the grand prix, then sixth place after another 3-second penalty was eventually issued late on Sunday evening for the leathers and chest protector infringement.
Exactly why the zip came down remains a mystery, Quartararo saying only that:
"I had the leathers completely open in the first corner and I just tried to put [the zip] back in a normal position again. I couldn't do it. When [the zip] is totally down you need to stretch [the two sides together to pull the zip back up], like a zip on a pair of jeans."
However, on the slow-down lap "it was possible again to close the zip" and Alpinestars have yet to find any fault.
Extraordinary scenes in the closing stages involving accepted that he should have been black-flagged for the obvious danger caused by the leathers and chest protector situation, but maintains the Turn 2 penalty was unfair.
As a result of his demotion from third to sixth, the Monster Yamaha rider how holds a 14-point title advantage over Pramac Ducati's Johann Zarco, who finished the race in second behind KTM's Miguel Oliveira.
