Fabio Quartararo lap time revealed after hitting dirt with motocross champion

Ahead of the 2025 MotoGP season beginning in Thailand, Fabio Quartararo headed to the CDG MX Retreat in Spain with the factory Yamaha MXGP team to ride Maxime Renaux’s factory YZ450FM dirt bike.

Quartararo is not a total stranger to motocross, but his admission – featured in the video Yamaha published showcasing Quartararo’s ride on Renaux’s YZ450 – that his Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP team requests that he avoids jumps when riding on the dirt is at least an indication of the level he is limited to as a result of safety concerns.

Renaux, on the other hand, is the 2021 MX2 World Champion and was the MX Open rider in the victorious French team at the 2023 Motocross of Nations.

It’s a difference in speed that was perhaps best displayed in Yamaha’s video when Quartararo was being talked through Renaux’s bike, and the 2021 MotoGP World Champion being surprised at how stiff his compatriot has the suspension and steering set on his factory bike.

When they hit the track, Renaux laid down a 2:04.6 lap time, which Quartararo got to almost within 16 seconds of with a 2:20.9.

Renaux came into the 2025 season off the back of two injury-hit years, including one foot injury that even the #959 himself has admitted will never allow his foot to fully recover.

However, at the MXGP season-opener in Argentina, Renaux defeated 2015 MXGP World Champion Romain Febvre in the Qualifying Race, and then won the Grand Prix overall on the Sunday – his 2-1 score beating Febvre’s 1-2 thanks to a better second race result.

MXGP had its first race of the year on the same weekend as MotoGP, 28 February–2 March, so while Renaux was taking an early points lead in Argentina, Quartararo was struggling to 15th in Thailand thanks to what he suggested after the race could have been a problem with his rear tyre.

Both will be back in action this weekend (14–16 March) as MotoGP heads from Thailand to Argentina for round two of the season, the second round of MXGP takes place in Castilla la Mancha, Spain.