The difficult weekends are coming one after the other for Honda. Author of the 20th time in qualifying and without any hope for the sprint race, which only rewards a top 9 that is totally inaccessible for the Japanese bike at the moment, Johann Zarco thus preferred to prepare for the race, and therefore use the medium tire on the rear, with which he has been more comfortable since the beginning of the weekend anyway.
“[Une course] completed, it’s important”underlined Zarco on Canal +. “Interesting to have ridden on this medium tire. My feeling was good, the initial feeling, I think it can have good consistency, it can give me a good feeling and in terms of timing, I didn’t have a big difference with the software, in any case in terms of regularity. So, at least, it helped us. [la course principale].”
“Afterwards, a small piece of the tire came off and the bike still vibrated, even with the rear medium. I hope that won’t happen tomorrow because then, it could allow me to be even more comfortable.”
“The problem with the tender is that I had too much vibration”added the LCR pilot during his meeting with journalists. “I even had some with the medium, but a little less. It’s a way of preparing for the race [dimanche]not to be surprised to choose the medium and perhaps make a mistake, because we know that ninth place, for the moment, is not possible on a [course] sprint, so the sprint remains tests.”
Johann Zarco, Team LCR Honda
Photo de: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Johann Zarco was the second Honda rider to finish, taking 16th place, two positions behind Joan Mir. An identical result would not be enough to score points this Sunday and the Frenchman acknowledges that he is “difficult to go faster” Currently.
“In terms of pace, I even went faster than we had planned, by 3-4 tenths on each lap, so it was not bad in terms of driver performance. [Joan] Mir did well too, he rode hard. I hope, [ce dimanche]being a little better would be nice, or better management and having a little reward point.”
Zarco nevertheless believes he has a chance of points: “Yes totally. […] We see that a pace in short 1’33, well, it doesn’t lead anywhere, it’s still too far. If there is a way to find several laps below 1’33, there is a way to take points.”
With Fabien Gaillard
