We perpetuate our habit of referring to you in full the words of Johann Zarco, in a raw way, therefore without any 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").
There is always the little detail that immerses enthusiasts more and more every day in the world of MotoGP…
Johann zarco : “We did a test here, and compared to the last race 15 days ago, we should have fewer problems or less confusion setting up the bike. We have a base of settings, and a pretty good base of settings, since I felt comfortable, even though we had different conditions and temperatures. Maybe we can adapt better than in Mugello, and what I discovered during the test here is that everything was just good: good asphalt, well made, and having those last 2 fast corners, it It's much better for motorcycles. It's better for my riding style, I can also rest there. You have to stay focused, but I can relax my body there, whereas with the old chicane, because you can call it the old or the new, it was difficult because it was like Texas: small turns very tight where you have to quickly move your motorcycle which feels heavy from left to right, which is difficult. So I'm glad I don't have to struggle with that this weekend.
My wishes are always very high because after the problem I encountered at Mugello, I am even more relaxed because I had a difficult weekend, I was angry, almost in the style of the old Zarco from there 3 years ago who went crazy when he wasn't fast, then I saw that it wasn't the end of the world. So now I come here with a smile to do what I can do, for sure to give my best, and when everything fits together we can think about the podium or the victory. And for now, that’s all I want for this weekend.”
At Mugello, did your problems come from the bike or rather from you who didn't know how to fix it?
“I still don't know, and I don't even want to ask myself or even my guys why. It was a lesson for me that you can't be on top all the time. To be champion you have to be at the top all the time but at the moment we may be able to fight for the championship but that is still a very high goal, maybe a bit too much to think about, and may -being a top 3 would already be fantastic. So when it doesn't come immediately, I have to accept and say to myself "OK, it's not coming this weekend, so attack but accept that you might not feel well." I didn't accept it immediately and saw that whether I'm angry or not, the result will be more or less the same anyway. So it’s best to stay calm and save energy.”
Didn't you put pressure on yourself at Mugello?
“It's possible, yes, because the reason why I was under pressure is that now I know better what I am capable of doing, what the bike can do, and what I can achieve as a goal. So maybe I put myself under pressure even though I say I try to stay away from that pressure. But I think I got in a little too much and didn't evacuate it as it should be done. Yes, last year was easier from that point of view because I was like “OK, there's something you don't understand yet”. But now, at Mugello, I haven't accepted that there is still something that I don't understand, why it didn't work. For my part, on the motorcycle side, I don't know. As I said, the only thing that was positive in Mugello was that I struggled but Marc also struggled. And since he's usually the champion, that means it's good (laughs) if I only struggle at Mugello. So I try to take the positive that way.”
Tires generally deteriorate at the end of the race. Are you afraid of that here where the coating has just been redone?
“No, not to the point of saying that it attacks the tires too much because it is abrasive. Currently, from what we were able to glean from the test where it was quite hot, we have almost the same tires here, so that is important. We put some tricks on it. When the track has a lot of grip, we sometimes end up using the tire less because we spin less. The fact of skating less, we eat less tire, whereas a track which will grip less, we will sometimes eat more tires because it slips. Any explanation could be logical, but this, with the last sensations we had, these are the results we had.
Can you explain to us the fast turns where you can rest?
“As I said, we still have quite heavy bikes and we arrive with speed. There, on a fast corner, once you have placed the bike... it is certain that if you have placed it badly, you then shit on the rest of the corner, but if you position yourself well, then you have to stay in your line and everything flows. Whereas on very slow and tight turns, you really have to push. Once you are on the left, you don't have time to relax your body; you already have to swing the bike to the right. And that uses up a lot of energy.”
Do the performances at Mugello have a link to the outcome of the French Grand Prix or does it have nothing to do?
“At the French Grand Prix, I was still extremely efficient. But there may also be a connection with falling. As the fall was not the deserved result, there was perhaps this desire for revenge. There was that, on Friday and Saturday, saying “I was so close to the goal that I can still be here” even if the circuit is different and we had more factors that were not in our favor at Mugello. But we still believe in it. But in the end, it didn't. It was perhaps also in relation to the year before when I had difficulty. There, I told myself that I didn't want to have these same difficulties, and yet, it happened again and again. Now I take weekend by weekend.”
Technically, what's a problem for you on this circuit, because even in Moto2, it's never been terrible?
“I can’t analyze it yet. There I tried to approach the subject a little differently, on the settings, on the comments, and I see that it didn't work either. With this asphalt, we still tend to slide forward a lot, and maybe that's it: being a little more limited on the gear, or as soon as we want to position the bike better, we can fall. It makes things difficult. For the moment, this is the technical explanation that I am giving.”
Pedrosa's handlebars were up for grabs. No regrets for not having discussed with Honda?
" No no. No regrets, that much is clear, because the upcoming project is frankly interesting. With Laurent, we firmly believe that it will work, it can work.”
Lorenzo at Honda, can it work?
" I do not even think about it. It's not my job. He's lucky ! He's lucky to have a place like that, because he won, which is a sign that he's still good, but if we take last year's 18 races plus 5, that's 23 races before Mugello doesn’t deserve a place as an official Honda driver.”
Here, there was the test with Michelin, there is the Grand Prix, and there will be another test on Monday. Does all this really add anything?
“In any case, it helps the drivers to be at more than 300 and to play at these speeds. This allows you to relax even more for the rest of the races. And I think that the fact of repeating it on the same circuit, instead of trying at all costs to break a track record, I will discuss it with the team but why not choose a tire which perhaps does not work not good here and practice making it work. If everything really goes well and we can afford that, and even if it's the same route, it changes the conditions and the tools we have to find performance. It can sometimes be nice for that.”
The Tourist Trophy was won last week at an average speed of 216 km/h. What do you think ?
“I admire this race. Without dreaming of doing it, because I think we really have to live there and I don't see myself going into depression yet after a failed MotoGP career, telling myself that I'm going to live on the island just for that and learn the circuit. But to be a hero of this track as a winner, I tell myself that it would be beautiful, because we really have another aspect of the bike, and it's the purest aspect of the bike, because of all that side “we come to see the pilots face death”. And that is more and more frowned upon, but the English still very much retain this gladiator spirit. And that still makes the discipline unique.”
