This afternoon, during the qualification, and unlike all the other little comrades, Johann Zarco did not take to the track before mid-session.
A technical problem? No, but rather a strategy undoubtedly developed by the blond wizard for tomorrow's race. We obviously think of the conservation of the soft tires which helped the Tech3 driver to climb to the second row, to sixth position.
Confirmation tomorrow during the race, or this evening on our site, during the daily debriefing of the French driver…
Edit: Ultimately, no. After conversing with Hervé Poncharal, our hypothesis is wrong and it was simply a matter of doing a single run to let the tires warm up and take your time to build up power, without being hampered by the other bikes...
Johann zarco, 6th, 8 laps: “We did a good job and the feeling is positive on this track, plus I am happy with the qualifying on the second row. However, I have to admit that I wasn't quite relaxed enough and I feel that it would have been possible to achieve a better time. Maybe I wouldn't have been able to match Marquez's time but I think I could have fought with Lorenzo for 3rd place, but I would have had to be calmer to do this. This is the only unfortunate point of qualifying, but my running pace this morning was fast and I was consistent. In FP4 we tried different compounds and it got a little trickier, so it looks like we know where we stand on that. Tomorrow I aim to make a good start and fight from the lights out because when you get into a good position at the start then you can get a better pace and have more positive times. So Top 5 is my target to score a lot of points for the championship, but if everything goes well and I feel comfortable, I will take my chance to fight for another podium. »
#AustrianGP MotoGP J.2: Chronos
| 1 | 93 | Marc Márquez | Honda | 1'23.235 | ||
| 2 | 4 | Andrea Dovizioso | Ducati | 1'23.379 | 0.144 | 0.144 |
| 3 | 99 | Jorge Lorenzo | Ducati | 1'23.621 | 0.386 | 0.242 |
| 4 | 25 | Maverick VIÑALES | Yamaha | 1'23.754 | 0.519 | 0.133 |
| 5 | 9 | Danilo PETRUCCI | Ducati | 1'23.780 | 0.545 | 0.026 |
| 6 | 5 | johann zarco | Yamaha | 1'23.879 | 0.644 | 0.099 |
| 7 | 46 | Valentino ROSSI | Yamaha | 1'23.982 | 0.747 | 0.103 |
| 8 | 26 | Dani PEDROSA | Honda | 1'23.985 | 0.750 | 0.003 |
| 9 | 35 | Cal Crutchlow | Honda | 1'24.024 | 0.789 | 0.039 |
| 10 | 29 | Andrea Iannone | Suzuki | 1'24.185 | 0.950 | 0.161 |
| 11 | 17 | Karel ABRAHAM | Ducati | 1'24.220 | 0.985 | 0.035 |
| 12 | 76 | Loris BAZ | Ducati | 1'24.483 | 1.248 | 0.263 |
| Q1 Results: | ||||||
| Q2 | 9 | Danilo PETRUCCI | Ducati | 1'23.754 | ||
| Q2 | 26 | Dani PEDROSA | Honda | 1'23.849 | 0.095 | 0.095 |
| 13 | 94 | Jonas Folger | Yamaha | 1'24.015 | 0.261 | 0.166 |
| 14 | 8 | Hector BARBERA | Ducati | 1'24.036 | 0.282 | 0.021 |
| 15 | 45 | Scott REDDING | Ducati | 1'24.037 | 0.283 | 0.001 |
| 16 | 44 | Pol Espargaró | KTM | 1'24.101 | 0.347 | 0.064 |
| 17 | 19 | Alvaro BAUTISTA | Ducati | 1'24.202 | 0.448 | 0.101 |
| 18 | 36 | Mika Kallio | KTM | 1'24.261 | 0.507 | 0.059 |
| 19 | 43 | Jack Miller | Honda | 1'24.321 | 0.567 | 0.060 |
| 20 | 41 | Aleix Espargaro | Aprilia | 1'24.447 | 0.693 | 0.126 |
| 21 | 42 | Alex Rins | Suzuki | 1'24.448 | 0.694 | 0.001 |
| 22 | 38 | Bradley SMITH | KTM | 1'24.530 | 0.776 | 0.082 |
| 23 | 22 | Sam LOWES | Aprilia | 1'24.852 | 1.098 | 0.322 |
| 24 | 53 | Tito RABAT | Honda | 1'24.900 | 1.146 | 0.048 |
