Johann Zarco (13th) leaves the French GP "with a little smile"
If he did not shine in front of his fans, the French Johann Zarco nevertheless leaves the GP of France with a "little smile" because the KTMs have progressed: not only do they finish all four in the points, but Pol Espargaro s’ offers a nice 6th place just 6 seconds behind the winner. Debriefing.
At the end of the French GP, fifth round of the 2019 MotoGP world championship, one thing is clear: KTM has progressed and posted its best result of the season !
- 2019 MotoGP French GP :
- 2019 MotoGP French GP :
- MNC special file :
Admittedly, it is not on the handlebars of the RC16 n ° 5 of Johann Zarco but that of the n ° 44 entrusted to his teammate Pol Espargaro. Of course, the Frenchman still has his work cut out for him to reach his top 10 goal after finishing only, and, and again. Admittedly, Zarco has only collected 10 points in five races and is 15th in the provisional standings while on his "old bike", the rookie Fabio Quartararo is ranked 12th with 25 points despite a white result..
"If you don’t have the machine, you can’t go any further"
The new parts tested at Jerez seem to have paid off and the Austrian manufacturer records at Le Mans its best performance with its four bikes in points, even if it still does not do the business of Johann Zarco…
"So much the better that it works for Pol Espargaro, at least it’s good for KTM, but for me it’s not going at all", regrets the French: "we have a lot of things that do not go and when we arrive in the race we do not ‘is not ready at all. So I may prepare myself mentally and physically, at some point if you don’t have the machine you can’t go any further so it’s hard, even if it’s the best weekend we’ve done so far "…
Pol Espargaro, official KTM (12th in qualifying, 6th in race)
"This result is simply magnificent and it is almost incredible after less than two and a half years. It shows that we are on the right track. I am so proud of this project. We were there for the whole race. Competition is very tight here with the best riders in the world, but we are only 5 seconds from the winner on his factory bike. It’s incredible and it gives us wings to continue working, progressing on the next races and keep fighting for the top 10. I had a lot of fun today and was on the limit from start to finish. It was amazing to see that I was catching up with Vale in some areas and Petrucci had to strip down to double me! That makes me really proud! "
Johann Zarco, official KTM (14th in qualifying, 13th in race)
"It was a difficult race… I got off to a good start and I controlled the bike well, but lap after lap I got exhausted because I still don’t have the optimal feeling. I’m happy with the 13th position because that still makes some points. Overall there were some positive aspects this weekend and I will keep them in mind for the next race. I was aiming for the top 10 and at the start of the race I was close, but I didn’t was able to keep pace. It’s a shame. Pol (Espargarao, his teammate, Editor’s note) was fantastic this weekend and it’s great for KTM and for him. I still need to work, because he has proven that ‘we could do something. We need time and I said that from the start of the season. I felt the quality of the bike this weekend and we have things to work on, so we are leaving France with a little smile ".
Hafizh Syahrin, KTM Tech3 (21st in qualifying, 14th in race)
"I liked this race. At the beginning it was a bit difficult to have the speed, but lap after lap I found the rhythm and I tried to fight with Miguel (Oliveira, his teammate, editor’s note) and to stay close to him. Eventually he made a mistake and I finished 14th. These two points have a huge meaning for me and I want to dedicate them to my family and to everyone, but especially to the French fans because they appreciate always all the pilots. It is the national GP of the team (Tech3, Editor‘s note) and I never give up! I also want to thank my team because they have always trusted me and never stopped m ‘help improve my machine and my riding style on the new bike ".
Miguel Oliveira, KTM Tech3 (16th in qualifying, 15th in race)
“It was a tough race today. We didn’t have a lot of dry weather this weekend so the set-up wasn’t perfect. Anyway, we managed to improve. I was able to go a little faster than this morning. During the race I struggled with several things, but overall I would say the result is a little more satisfactory than Jerez. This is for me the only positive point of the day. I’m rather annoyed by my penalty but we have to move on to the next event now ".
Mike Leitner, KTM team director
"We can only be proud to have fought in the top 10 for sixth place and finished just 6 seconds behind the winner in the dry! We are proud of Pol for the way he achieved this result, but also for all those who have worked hard on this project. We are still at the start of the third season, but this winter the comments of all our pilots resulted in ideas which took a long time to come up with technical answers . After Jerez we had a few and it was a success. We felt we were performing well and Friday was fantastic! Things did not go as planned for qualifying but Pol did a great job , just like the team. We still regret that Johann can’t ride like Pol, but I think we started to improve with him here. It was the first time he said he felt comfortable and that the lap times were about to come. to go hard to capitalize on this progress and adapt the bike more to its handling. He has regained his motivation and I think Jean-Michel Bayle is helping him a lot. For the first time in history, we have all the KTMs in the championship points. I’m glad Hafizh did it and Miguel did it again. It was a very good day and we are going to Mugello to try to improve further ".
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