MotoGP French GP – Zarco (retirement): "I should have waited a little longer"…
Highly anticipated for his national Grand Prix where he hoped to win his first MotoGP victory, Johann Zarco made a mistake for showing a little too much impatience… Debriefing.
Johann Zarco, Yamaha Tech3 (1st in qualifying and retirement in the race) : "We had a difficult end to our Grand Prix at home, after having had some great moments. Anyway, we bring home some great memories with the pole position and we had a good performance. We worked well and in the race I was in second position. My start was rather bad, but in the first chicane I was able to catch up with the positions almost immediately ".
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"Afterwards, it was difficult with Lorenzo, maybe I could have been faster, but I didn’t manage to pass," admits the only French driver in the premier class. “Later I wanted to pass him but I made a small mistake. I think I was too fast in this corner, I overstepped the limits and the front gave way. did not expect to fall because my feeling on the bike was good ".
“Maybe I should have waited until I had less fuel on the bike which was the best time for us over the weekend. Even with worn tires the control was good and it happened early. race. I should have waited a little longer, but I didn’t. Now I have to keep in mind that sometimes we are lucky and sometimes not. Yet I will continue to do what I do all over the world and keep winning as my target this year ".
Site analysis : Qualified in pole position with the key, Johann Zarco could legitimately aim for victory at the French GP, his first in the premier class after his front of his fans.
Unfortunately, he was unable to take full advantage of this start in first position and found himself second at the entrance to the Dunlop behind Jorge Lorenzo’s Ducati (who started 6th on the grid!), At the cost of a superb interior on Marc Marquez, who must recover slightly in front of Andrea Dovizioso.
The Ducati rider replied when Johann widened his trajectory in the Chapel bend and took second place … before giving it back involuntarily by crashing two laps later! The French then desperately tries to pass Lorenzo, still in the lead, but is overtaken by Marquez in the Blue Esses. And while he replied in the Dunlop and returned to the reigning world champion, Johann set out again in the hunt for Lorenzo but lost the front in the Green Garage, to the chagrin of the public who came to encourage him in the stands….
The moment the dream ended for home hero at the
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Zarco’s first MotoGP victory will therefore not take place in front of his fans – unless the KTM becomes competitive for the 2019 French GP ?! But all chauvinism aside, Johann does not have to be ashamed of this fall, his second in the same turn after that of the warm-up: he tried everything for everything and could not / knew / wanted to wait a better time to try to overtake Lorenzo – who finally finished 6th…
"Unfortunately, that’s part of the game"
Johann was determined to win, he was competitive all weekend and above all, he maintains an enviable position in the world championship with the, a small point behind the official Yamaha Maverick Viñales (58 Vs 59) and 37 points behind Marc Marquez (95).
Note also that Dovizioso is angry with Zarco because of his comeback deemed too aggressive after the start: "in the second corner, Zarco did something very limited", estimates the n ° 4, "then he almost touched Jorge in turn 7 and I saw him lose the rear two or three times ".
"He was perhaps too excited", concludes Ducati rider who downgrades to 9th place in the provisional classification after two consecutive white results … Excited, no doubt … but who would not be? Remember that the last crash of the French champion dates back to, when he was competing in his very first MotoGP event after leading for !
"Unfortunately, that’s part of the game", confirms Herve Poncharal apologizing to Johann fans, who "were waiting for at least another podium".
"I can not tell you that this is not a scenario that I did not think of", admits the team manager of Tech3 who had therefore considered this possibility: "until Saturday evening, Johann did the week- Perfect end in my opinion, he got that amazing pole position, he kept a cool head and seemed to deal really well with the pressure of the GP at home. This morning we saw another Johann. There had been this kind warning when he fell with Luthi during the warm-up, which he doesn’t normally ".
"We could see that he was nervous, but he wanted to convince himself that everything was fine," continues the boss of the Var team. “The warm-up is always the last time you are on the bike before starting the race, so it’s an important moment. For the race, the exit from the grid was bad but he recovered in the first chicane with an amazing braking maneuver and later we saw that Johann was struggling with Lorenzo in acceleration and he had to make up for all the time lost on the brakes. Then Marquez came back and they started a three pilot battle. ".
"I think Johann just kept the brake on a bit too much and lost the front," said Herve Poncharal. "Of course, after that we said to ourselves that it was not necessary to try to pass Lorenzo so soon, because when the bike was going to get a little lighter, the pace would have come. I believe there was a possible podium. , but I’m not an "if, if, if" guy … So we learned, he learned mostly because it’s a shame to make his first white result at home after 21 consecutive finishes. , thanks to Johann and thanks to the whole team. We will try again in the next race at Mugello, which could be a bit difficult with the long straight. ".
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