Johann Zarco will have to go through Q1 at Sepang after placing 13th in Friday practice. The Frenchman loses when accelerating on the big Malaysian track, as he expected. But he also observes that the gap with the best has narrowed.
“It was somewhat announced that on a big circuit, the gaps would be greater and that we would have a little more difficulty, and indeed. No way to follow Martin. I was able to follow Marc Marquez a little but there is too much of a gap. Less than before because I didn't think I could believe it, and I did. But the 1'58.3 you had to do everything perfectly to succeed in getting it. »
“Too bad about that, but it was still interesting to be at the forefront during the session, to feel that things were under control. But this limit on acceleration, on this big circuit, plays tricks on us. If we say that we were 1.5 seconds behind, we are more than 1 second on a big circuit. You can take the glass of water half full. »
“The last corner is the one that bothers me a lot, I have no option. We lose a lot here as well as in the first sector, between turns 2 and 3. It's hard to carry the bike. All these changes of angle while accelerating, we lose meters because I think we are at the limit of nose up, you have the impression that the bike has no power when in fact it cut to stay on the ground (anti-wheeling, Editor's note). On the dynamics of the bike, sometimes we lose meters, and on a big track that's a lot of meters. »
