Let's Talk MotoGP: It's unpleasant, but we must tell the truth about Johann Zarco

Johann Zarco crashed (again) at the Catalan Grand Prix a few days ago. While it's impossible to question his talent or speed, a rather alarming statistic caught my attention during the race. Today, let's take a look at the frenchie.

 

Johann Zarco a bit absent?

 

You will agree that Zarco's victory at Le Mans makes his season a success, whatever happens next.. Indeed, winning in his second year with such an uncompetitive bike was a feat, a term aptly used to describe his performance under the vexed skies of Le Mans. However, after a second place in the dry at Silverstone during the following Grand Prix, I had imagined, like many I hope, that Zarco would move into another dimension, that of regular outsiders on the podium, because we know how dedicated he is when he gets down to it. The problem is that he had more difficult weekends after that. Between crashes and a lack of confidence in his machine, the weeks followed one another, without much change. To be honest, I didn't pay much attention to this seemingly more delicate period., but without being catastrophic either.

 

 

During the Catalan Grand Prix, after his fall, the British commentators of the feed official MotoGP.com - unbiased by chauvinism – noted an impressive statistic, which had the effect of an electric shock on me. Since this second place at Silverstone he has not achieved a single top 10 finish in a GP.. When I heard this, I immediately went to check it out, because it seemed almost too big to be true. But, as is often the case with English commentators, it was all true. I couldn't believe it.

We are experiencing a series of eight consecutive races without a single top 10 for Zarco on Sunday. Over this period, he has five retirements, as many as in his last two seasons combined! On Saturday afternoon, it's a little better, with four entries in the points in Sprint, including two seventh places for best result. Independently, These figures are already scary, but that's nothing when you compare them to others.

Let's start by contrasting him with... himself, at the start of the season. In the first seven rounds, before the problems began, he obviously had a win and a second place, but also three other top 10 finishes, including a wonderful fourth place in Qatar, a fourth place in the Sprint in Argentina, and a fifth position in the Sprint at Silverstone. In terms of points, he scored 97 point over the first seven rounds, against 20 over the last eight. Do you realize? No other driver on the grid has experienced such a drop in form over the same period.

 

 

Johann Zarco, still number 1?

 

Indeed, we should not draw conclusions based solely on short periods. But I would still like to point out that the Aragon Grand Prix, where the difficulties began, was held on June 8, two months ago to the day. Over a MotoGP season, that's a significant sample.

If the comparison with himself seemed rather cruel, let's now contrast him with the other Honda riders. Of course, I deliberately exclude his teammate Somkiat Chantra, because I don't like to shoot the ambulance, especially when it loses oil and has a slow puncture. Currently, Johann Zarco has 117 units on the meter, which gives an average of 7,8 points scored per weekend. If we stick to that, Joan Mir, the official pilot, is only 3,3 points scored on average. But over the last eight races, believe it or not, Mir outclasses Zarco despite four falls! The Spaniard has 32 points over this period, compared to 20 for Johann.

What can we say about Luca Marini, who is certainly the nice surprise of this season. First of all, on average, the Italian turns 6,8 points scored per meeting, which is ultimately quite close to the Frenchman's record. Then, in the last eight races contested by him, he scored 56 units, almost three times more than the LCR pilot.

 

The reasons

 

 

The most vicious thing about this story is that it seems difficult to understand why. Listening to Zarco, it's as if he's lost track of development, as if, in certain races, he has no sensations, no feedback from riding the RC213V. This would make it a rather unpredictable, fuzzy machine, on which it is easy to make a mistake.. For now, we don't really have any more specific indications regarding his troubles. On the other hand, This illustrates how impressive Luca Marini's effort is: he is the only rider who has not yet crashed this season, even though he rides a seemingly rather illegible bike.. Moreover, from a pure rhythm point of view, he gets much closer to Zarco as the weeks go by, as evidenced by the Catalan GP where, on a track which suits the Frenchman rather well, Marini was in contact and very efficient until one lap from the end.

 

Conclusion

 

Make no mistake: I remain convinced that Johann Zarco is by far the best Honda rider. His speed, moreover, is not approached by anyone else at the moment within the winged firm. However, he is not able to capitalize on this impressive velocity, and this costs him a lot of points. He is having a very good season, but this series of results seems to be affecting his confidence somewhat. Yes, there was this story about upgrades that he didn't have access to, according to him., but I find it hard to believe that the pieces mentioned will, in a few weeks, fill the gap in level that separated him from a Luca Marini, for example.

This therefore remains to be monitored, because it is ultimately quite rare to see a total change in dynamics. in such a short time.

I'm curious to know what you think about the situation. Tell me in the comments!

As a reminder, this article only reflects the thoughts of its author, and not of the entire editorial team.

 

 

Cover photo: Michelin Motorsport