MUGELLO, (Italy): Fabio Quartararo dominated Sunday’s Italian MotoGP at a sombre Mugello circuit shaken by the death of Swiss 19-year-old Moto3 rider Jason Dupasquier who succumbed to injuries sustained in a multi-bike qualifying crash.
Yamaha’s French world championship leader held up a Swiss flag on the podium in honour of a “friend” whose promising young career was cut short in brutal fashion.
“This one’s for Jason,” said Quartararo.
The Swiss teenager’s death was announced around midday by MotoGP organisers.
“We’re deeply saddened to report the loss of Jason Dupasquier,” MotoGP said on Twitter.
“On behalf of the entire MotoGP family, we send our love to his team, his family and loved ones. You will be sorely missed, Jason. Ride in peace,” the statement added.
Dupasquier, in his second season in Moto3, fell and was struck by at least one bike, before sliding along the track, during qualifying, at turn nine, on Saturday. Doctors rushed to the scene and after attending to him for 40 minutes on the circuit had him airlifted to hospital.
The rider described as “a leading light of Swiss motorsport” passed away in hospital in Florence after suffering severe brain damage and undergoing chest surgery overnight.
Quartararo said: “It was a strange day, a lot of emotion, every time I passed turn nine I was thinking about Jason. “It’s not a great feeling, you achieve a win but we lose one of our friends.”
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