We perpetuate our habit of referring to you in full the words of Johann Zarco, in a raw way, therefore without journalistic formatting or distortion.
Alongside the sometimes slightly formatted communication of traditional press releases, the exchanges between the French rider and the journalists in the hospitality of the Monster Yamaha Tech3 team are of a richness and simplicity that true enthusiasts will appreciate (you can find all his past debriefings in our section “Interviews").
Johann zarco : “It’s a day that started well and ended badly. This morning was better than I expected. I was happy to have a good feeling and a good pace in FP1 using a medium rear tire. I was not very far from the leading drivers. One second might seem like a lot but I could see the others weren't that fast. It was positive on a circuit which normally bothers me a lot and where we struggle. But this afternoon I completely lost that good feeling and, with the high temperatures, the track temperature was quite high and we completely lost grip with the bike. The bike then reacts very, very badly, you can't do anything and I can't go any faster. If you try to go faster in a corner, you skid, and if you try to slow down to have better acceleration, the bike no longer has acceleration. We are lost because we have no solution. I try to do my best but we are very far away and the gap is very big. It's sad to feel like I'm giving it my all and nothing is going well. We have to accept this situation and if I told you what we can work on to progress, I would be lying to you because we have no solution. This does not bode well for this weekend but unfortunately we will have to accept the situation. We will fight in any case, but when we fight for the podium, it gives more pleasure than when we fight for a 17th place.
For the race, the temperatures will be more or less the same…
" Exactly ! Our only chance would be if it rains which is not forecast this weekend. Even if at the moment I can't show it, I will give my best. I will try and get some experience from it. But that experience, when you give everything you have and nothing goes well, is maybe a bad experience to have.”
How do you explain that the track has less grip this afternoon when the times are much faster?
" I can not tell you. I do not know. I'm not a technician and we still encounter the same problem. So put another rider on my bike and we'll see what the bike does. That's the only thing I can tell you. But I'm 5 tenths behind Viñales, and I would say he's not that far. So that means he’s also having problems.”
All Yamahas have problems. Do you think it comes from a lack of grip on this circuit?
“I think so, yes. It's the same problem for everyone but for us it seems even worse. So I don't know what to tell you. I have to accept it and I have to fight with the same enthusiasm as if I was fighting for the podium. But it will perhaps only be for a top 10.”
You say you slide: is it from the back or from the front?
“It’s always the rear that slides the most and doesn’t help you take the right direction.”
So it's when entering a turn, but is it also the case when exiting?
“No, I think the corner entries are not bad. This is one of the Yamaha's strong points. But on the track you also sometimes have to open the throttle! If we had to do the 6 kilometers of the circuit without accelerating, we would be competitive (laughs).”
Is this the worst moment of the season, in terms of performance?
“In terms of position, yes, I think so. Afterwards, in terms of sensations, we finally find the same thing, but the difference is even worse. Everything I say is very pessimistic, but how can you be positive about that? It's almost impossible! ".
Last year, did you ever have such traction problems on the bike?
“No, because it wasn’t going at the same speed either. I'm going even faster than last year. The problem is, I haven't looked at all my times yet but I already have a better start. So if I start from a higher level, it’s because I can progress better. But in fact, I'm already starting at the maximum of what we can do, so I can't progress any further. Work on myself, but after a while I no longer know where to look for the difference.”
Have you had any heat where you can control when the bike starts to slide?
“No, it’s slipping and it’s no longer moving forward. It’s not difficult to do.”
When entering a turn, it sometimes feels like the rear is going away. Is it difficult to master?
“No, it’s okay. It's more that even if you have a good bike to get into the corners well, there is always a certain speed to respect because you can't get in too fast either, otherwise you make your exit even worse. It's hard to live with, that's all. It’s frustrating and I still have to enjoy it.”
Pleasure or work?
" Both. It's an experience, but here it's even a bad experience. But I'm not starting to doubt because when I attack on a good morning like that, it's a sign that I'm still performing well.”
Does your technical team have some ideas to try to improve things?
“Since mid-season, we have believed, but in fact it is hopeless. Since we have nothing left to lose, I asked them to try something else. I have nothing left to lose so if we want to revolutionize things, we'll see where it takes us. I don't think we'll have that anymore next year. Hoping that the bike... I'm going to work to be good, and with a team that wants to move forward. There, our team cannot do anything because it is also blocked. But with a factory and the team next door who wants it, it will be good. There, you have the driver and the team, yes, who want to do things well, but we can no longer move forward.”
Are you disappointed with the lack of support from Yamaha?
“No, because I reassure myself by seeing the performance of the officials. This is the only reassuring side. We might be better than them, but they, who worked a lot harder and were able to change things, didn't find the right thing either. It’s a sign that the situation is complicated.”
At the end of the season, is there still a circuit where you can hope for something good?
" No idea ! I'm going to experience each race with good intensity and see where it takes me. There, really, the rhythm setting this morning was not bad. You take Lorenzo, he got into the rhythm less well than me, so it's a sign that at one point he's waiting for his bike to do it. When his bike does, he is 2nd. But he's not going to be pissed off: he's waiting and when it comes, boom! I can’t wait, because there’s nothing coming.”
Find all of Johann Zarco’s other debriefings here!
Aragon Grand Prix J.1: classification
| 1 | 93 | Marc Márquez | Honda | 1'47.382 | ||
| 2 | 99 | Jorge Lorenzo | Ducati | 1'47.520 | 0.138 | 0.138 |
| 3 | 4 | Andrea Dovizioso | Ducati | 1'47.835 | 0.453 | 0.315 |
| 4 | 35 | Cal Crutchlow | Honda | 1'47.862 | 0.480 | 0.027 |
| 5 | 29 | Andrea Iannone | Suzuki | 1'47.919 | 0.537 | 0.057 |
| 6 | 9 | Danilo PETRUCCI | Ducati | 1'48.134 | 0.752 | 0.215 |
| 7 | 26 | Dani PEDROSA | Honda | 1'48.389 | 1.007 | 0.255 |
| 8 | 19 | Alvaro BAUTISTA | Ducati | 1'48.452 | 1.070 | 0.063 |
| 9 | 46 | Valentino ROSSI | Yamaha | 1'48.501 | 1.119 | 0.049 |
| 10 | 25 | Maverick VIÑALES | Yamaha | 1'48.552 | 1.170 | 0.051 |
| 11 | 21 | Frank MORBIDELLI | Honda | 1'48.654 | 1.272 | 0.102 |
| 12 | 43 | Jack Miller | Ducati | 1'48.680 | 1.298 | 0.026 |
| 13 | 41 | Aleix Espargaro | Aprilia | 1'48.808 | 1.426 | 0.128 |
| 14 | 44 | Pol Espargaró | KTM | 1'48.850 | 1.468 | 0.042 |
| 15 | 38 | Bradley SMITH | KTM | 1'48.861 | 1.479 | 0.011 |
| 16 | 42 | Alex Rins | Suzuki | 1'48.902 | 1.520 | 0.041 |
| 17 | 5 | johann zarco | Yamaha | 1'48.997 | 1.615 | 0.095 |
| 18 | 17 | Karel ABRAHAM | Ducati | 1'49.016 | 1.634 | 0.019 |
| 19 | 30 | Takaaki NAKAGAMI | Honda | 1'49.123 | 1.741 | 0.107 |
| 20 | 45 | Scott REDDING | Aprilia | 1'49.441 | 2.059 | 0.318 |
| 21 | 12 | Thomas LUTHI | Honda | 1'49.690 | 2.308 | 0.249 |
| 22 | 10 | Xavier SIMEON | Ducati | 1'49.925 | 2.543 | 0.235 |
| 23 | 55 | Hafiz Syahrin | Yamaha | 1'49.937 | 2.555 | 0.012 |
| 24 | 81 | Jordi TORRES | Ducati | 1'51.081 | 3.699 | 1.144 |
