The Grand Prix MotoGP from Emilia-Romagna to Misano 2 brought a small point to Johann Zarco, but above all allowed him to fly off for the Asian tour seeing the glass as half full as half empty, and to no longer be only frustrated by his extreme motivation…
As usualwe report here his words during his debriefing, without the slightest formatting, and this evening directly transcribed from French.
Johann Zarco : “Actually, the analysis of yesterday’s sprint was still positive, because there were really better times and more pace than usual. And there, today’s race, I still felt pretty good. Very good braking, and it felt good to feel strong when braking. Afterwards, not good enough in terms of acceleration, and I slid a lot, but I fought well. Unfortunately, the only mistake I made, no, there were two mistakes: there was not managing to quickly pass Miller, because I had made the break with those behind to catch this group, but Miller was already on the defensive, it was not easy, and then, suddenly, struggling behind him, when Mir passed me I almost hit him on braking because he braked quite hard. Suddenly, I went straight on, and there it was again, I had to start all over again behind Nakagami. A nice pace at the end, but too much pulling, and I don’t like that. And likewise, if I made mistakes it’s a sign that I had speed but not yet the ease I need on the bike. So yes, it has evolved, it has evolved for everyone, but I don’t have the ease I want, and that’s what makes me angry. But the positive side is still that we were in combat with other bikes, which was rare since the beginning of the year, almost non-existent.
We also always analyzed the times but we lost the most time in the first half of the race. The second half of the race, there in terms of times, I did small 32s for a while and I think there were not many people in 31 at that time.
You even did 31.9 at one point, right?
“Yes, on the penultimate lap.”
How do you explain that? Is it that you can’t get the most out of the tires at first?
“Yeah, that’s it, because the bike is not turning enough, and also today, there was a big difference when the bike had less fuel. We have to manage to play with that, but for the moment we are so far that we still have difficulty playing with that.”
How do you see the races that are coming up and following one another there, with the start in Asia?
“I like the tour and I want to fight to get back points. There, I enjoyed being able to be with the others, even being with Miller even if I didn’t manage to pass him straight away. But to pass him at the end to get my point for 15th place, ah, that was nice because we had to jostle for… well I had to jostle him to get through, and so it was nice to fight a little for something. So, the tour, I hope to be like that: closer to the top 10, because thanks to my experience I think I have a way to pick up a few places compared to here in Misano where everyone was very metronomic.”
There, you could have finished 11th, roughly, if you hadn’t made the mistake: it still confirms the progress you were talking about since the test…
“Yes, because there weren’t, let’s say, a lot of falls, this race wasn’t a massacre. And I have the impression that Mir’s pace at the end of the race was still strong. So yes, there was an 11th place that was playable. Oliveira who finished 10th, he still had more pace, but yes, yes, frankly there was a step on the bike. Afterwards, as we always want more, we say to ourselves “damn, it’s still difficult”, but if we realize what we did at Misano 1, we can say that Misano 2 was good.”
Did you see Bastianini overtaking Martin in the footage?
“No, I only saw an onboard camera. It’s a tight circuit, not easy. It’s hard to brake, to come alongside, and to enter the corner. At one point, you almost have to slow down as best you can, and when the guy enters, you’re actually there. And there’s also this tendency sometimes for the driver who is being overtaken to try to close the door, because he knows that contact can create penalties, so now there’s also this tendency to close on the drivers. But I didn’t see the action.”
Martin steps aside, he doesn’t insist…
“Ah, well you see, Bastianini had no other choice to attack him, because I saw, even someone who was in distress like Miller, the only way to attack was to go into contact.”
For grip and acceleration problems, wouldn’t a race in the rain help you a bit?
“No, because in fact it amplifies our problem. In fact, that’s what I discovered when riding in the rain, it can allow you to have only one problem in fact. But yes, it was in Jerez that I realized that, where in general the conditions make me make the difference, especially on a drying track, and well I haven’t done a time on the Honda for the moment, and that’s where I told them that there was a serious problem.”
MotoGP 2024 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix result:
Ranking credit: MotoGP.com
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