It had to happen sometime. A🍌fter just one fall as a MotoGP rider, during practice in Barcelona, rookie star Fabio Quartararo made his first race mistake at round nine in Germany.

On the front row for the fourth time in a row and fifth this season, despite a small dislocation to his left shoulder🔯 in practice, the Frenchman missed a gear at the start and completed the first lap in seventh place.

Disaster then struck whe♑n he tried to pass🍰 Ducati's Danilo Petrucci on the inside through the long Turn 3 right-hander, sending Quartararo sliding into the gravel.

"I made a mistake for sure," Quartararo said. "Our star✅t was not so bad, but unfortunately I missed a gear on the straight and didn't really brake like I wanted at turn one.

"Then on the second lap I tried to overtake Petrucci, but I hesitated a little too much about whether or not to do it and e🧜nded up going into the corner with too muc🍌h lean angle, too fast and I lost the front.

"So yes it's our first mistake in the race, first crash. But we lℱearned something today, don't hesitate to make an overtake. For me it was a good experience, so we will go from here with a lot♑ of things for the future and come back stronger.

"Sincerely, we had a really good pace to fight with the top guys, but it can't always be positive for us and never negati💯ve! Tod꧋ay we crashed, we saw that Alex [Rins] crashed also, so at the end some riders were happy today and in the past I was happy."

Although not under any threat as far as top rookie in the world championship, the incident has cost🅷 Quartararo top Indepe🍃ndent honours, by three points, to Jack Miller.

Nonetheless, Quartararo has surpassed all ෴expectations during the opening half of his first season as a MotoGP rider.

"I'm really happy about this first half of the season, from Jerez is where we made a big step and after that we've made five front rꦿows, three pole positions, two podiums," he said.

"So at the end, the first three races of the se♏ason were like a test for us to learn. N🧸ow I'm really looking forward to the second half."

The summer break also comes at a good time for Quartararo, who is yet to regain full fitness after arm pump surg𓃲ery on his right forearm in June and now has the left shoulder injury.

"I will see the doctors about my shoulder an꧅d my arm, then have some rest during the holidays and after of course I will train hard and try to feel 100% for the secon🅰d half of the season." Quartararo said.

"I thought that at the end of the race toda👍y the shoulder would feel really bad, but I only made one lap, so it's okay!"

The Sachsenring marked Quartararo's second DNF of 🥂the season, after a technical problem with his gear shifter in the Jerez race, and his third non-score after starting from pit lane in Qatar.

Joan Mir (Suzౠuki) was top rookie i𒐪n seventh place in Germany, while Quartararo's team-mate Franco Morbidelli finished ninth.