Why go to Cartagena, in the south of Spain, to watch MotoGP rider Johann Zarco practice on a production motorcycle? A priori, the journey is long, tiring and expensive, and the ride, on a production motorcycle subject to draconian noise standards due to the recent closure of the circuit, much less spectacular than on his usual Honda RC213V from the Castrol LCR team. So why?
Because precisely, we are the opposite of Grands Prix, whose frantic timing naturally often tends to make drivers as stressed as they are in a hurry to cut short meetings with the media. Better, while MotoGP is by definition a completely individualistic sporting discipline, the ride in Cartagena was, the exact opposite: a magnificent initiative by Johann Zarco who did not hesitate to put in his pocket and take his time to help other French-speaking pilots.
So, if we were able to see some very good fights between number 5 and Barry Baltuswe particularly enjoyed seeing Johann Zarco devote time, a lot of time, not only to give advice to young French hopefuls, but also to follow them on the track, either being behind to study their driving, or being in front to show them the right trajectory. Note also that this very beautiful and rare attitude was shared by Lucas Mahias which, for example, particularly helped Bartholomé Perrin.
Gentlemen, quite simply ” hat ! »and a big thank you for being able to share these moments with you, including in the evening at the restaurant where all the pilots were present and were able to deepen their discussions in a very friendly atmosphere. We will therefore do our best to report in our columns the words of each of the participants through a very long series of interviews, embellished with a few surprises…
To all lord, all honor, and we begin today with the explanations of Johann Zarco on the motivations which gave rise to this very beautiful experience. Many other facets will obviously follow, including this Spanish experience, and news from the MotoGP rider.
Johann, we are here in Cartagena, where you rented the circuit, and where you invited around fifteen French drivers. It’s a superb initiative, a great gesture, so why?
Johann Zarco : “Yes, it's a great gesture, but in fact I was looking for rolls before Christmasthere in the south of Spain, because I wanted to ride with the CBR. I know that this CBR 1000 gives me good sensations, and I can manage to work a little, relax, and look for things at high speed all the same, because in terms of a training bike, it's is the one that goes the fastest, like what the Panigale was during the Ducati era. And while looking for rides, I see that I can't find what I want on the dates I'm available. I sent an email because I knew that Cartagena is an affordable price to rent the track only for me. And suddenly, I get a quality workout where I have free rein in the hours I want. I don't need to ride 15 minutes, or if there's a red flag you ride 12 minutes and then you wait an hour and a half. Well, I do it from time to time but it's not very qualitative.
There, I said to myself “It’s winter, there’s at least hours of sunshine to take. So, I ride when I want”. And when I did that to myself, I said to myself at first “Ah well, it’s cool, I was able to rent the track”. They responded to the email and the prices were really fair, eh, it was 3500 excluding tax per daywith the medical staff and everything: it remains very correct, and that's why in fact, if you take a day and then you charge people, let's say €200 per day, you'll get there quickly on small tracks like that. Jerez will be much more expensive and I know that Mugello can reach 40,000 a day sometimes. So from 3500, you go to 40,000 (laughs). Yes, but that already gives an idea of what it could be, and I said to myself “Okay, I’m treating myself to this, to give myself a nice quality workout”. And then I said to myself ”Well why not please the JZ5 team?” Once we did it in Brissac, I made the Supermotards available to them, all that. We were able to ride together and we had a great day. And then I said to myself “We do the same, but with the biggest bikes, or even we take down the Supermotards”. And then, seeing everyone's availability, I said to myself “Well, I’m also going to pass this on to French pilots”Honda or not.
In priority probably the Honda drivers, but those that I like and those who told me
“Hey, it would be nice if we could ride together sometime”genre Martin Renaudin whom I really like. He told me “It might be cool if we can train a little together to boost me up”. And I said “My pleasure”. So, I said to myself “Well, it’s time”but unfortunately he didn't have a motorbike, he couldn't come. Afterwards, it also made it possible to boost pilots like Hugh of Chancellors et
Corentin Perolariwho are, we will say, my
two pilots I'm trying to help. But ultimately, they too were not available, because Corentin is in Japan with Alan Techer to do a test with the FCC, that's very good, and Hugo is in the process of getting his state certificate, I think, to be able to be a motorcycle trainer, so he was busy.
SO we started sending a little information, for the young pilots of the federation. Afterwards I said ”I would like to know the driver who will compete in the Rookies Cup, David Da Costa”to perhaps try to create a link, to see it more, because I know that with the French drivers of the Rookies Cup, I ultimately never had a link during the Grands Prix. Afterwards, I'm very, very busy, but maybe if I have already created a link, if I see things, I can help give clues during the 2025 season. So, we'll see. And there, it was Seb (Sébastien Moreno) who managed that, and I think we could have 25 drivers available here on the circuit. We said to ourselves “If there are around fifteen of us, that’s good”and finally, yes, there were 10 who were able to come.”
To be continued very quickly…
Johann Zarco Cartagena
Johann Zarco Cartagena
Johann Zarco Cartagena
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