First at the end of the morning FP1 of this Grand Prix of the Czech Republic, Johann Zarco gave his fans a cold sweat in the afternoon by appearing for a long time in last position in FP2 on a track heated to 50° by the Moravian sun…
And when the Tech3 driver started to improve his times, it was not a leap forward but rather a slow and laborious progression, gradually going from 26th to 21st place, then to 16th which transformed into 19th with time, before waiting for the very last minutes to obtain the 3rd provisional time despite having been slowed down by slower drivers.
3rd time who was classified 6 ranks further after the improvements of his opponents.
The reason for this “smooth” progression until the final suspense? The French driver was trying to work on his race pace with worn tires, before deciding to switch to a new rear tire...
Johann Zarco is therefore currently pre-qualified for Q2, in 9th position, 0,559 seconds behind Dani Pedrosa and 3 tenths behind his brilliant teammate.
To find out more, don’t miss his full debriefing which will be published later this evening…
Johann zarco : “It was good to restart. FP1 was very good. With the new medium tire, I had a great time and I was happy to be first. In the afternoon it was very hot. The good thing is that we were able to try almost all the tires and understand them, as well as get some feeling, which is very important to prepare for the rest of the weekend. During the last outing with the new soft tire, I was unlucky. Because on the two fast laps I was supposed to do, I had to overtake slower drivers and I lost time. It’s a shame not to have been able to set a very good time at the end, but we are in the top 10, which is a good sign for tomorrow.”
Czech Republic Grand Prix Brno MotoGP J.1: Chronos
| 1 | 26 | Dani PEDROSA | Honda | 1'55.976 | ||
| 2 | 9 | Danilo PETRUCCI | Ducati | 1'56.099 | 0.123 | 0.123 |
| 3 | 19 | Alvaro BAUTISTA | Ducati | 1'56.144 | 0.168 | 0.045 |
| 4 | 55 | Hafiz Syahrin | Yamaha | 1'56.200 | 0.224 | 0.056 |
| 5 | 4 | Andrea Dovizioso | Ducati | 1'56.218 | 0.242 | 0.018 |
| 6 | 25 | Maverick VIÑALES | Yamaha | 1'56.392 | 0.416 | 0.174 |
| 7 | 46 | Valentino ROSSI | Yamaha | 1'56.480 | 0.504 | 0.088 |
| 8 | 53 | Tito RABAT | Ducati | 1'56.521 | 0.545 | 0.041 |
| 9 | 5 | johann zarco | Yamaha | 1'56.535 | 0.559 | 0.014 |
| 10 | 93 | Marc Márquez | Honda | 1'56.635 | 0.659 | 0.100 |
| 11 | 29 | Andrea Iannone | Suzuki | 1'56.644 | 0.668 | 0.009 |
| 12 | 42 | Alex Rins | Suzuki | 1'56.661 | 0.685 | 0.017 |
| 13 | 43 | Jack Miller | Ducati | 1'56.915 | 0.939 | 0.254 |
| 14 | 35 | Cal Crutchlow | Honda | 1'57.014 | 1.038 | 0.099 |
| 15 | 99 | Jorge Lorenzo | Ducati | 1'57.205 | 1.229 | 0.191 |
| 16 | 41 | Aleix Espargaro | Aprilia | 1'57.417 | 1.441 | 0.212 |
| 17 | 44 | Pol Espargaró | KTM | 1'57.473 | 1.497 | 0.056 |
| 18 | 6 | Stefan BRADL | Honda | 1'57.479 | 1.503 | 0.006 |
| 19 | 21 | Frank MORBIDELLI | Honda | 1'57.498 | 1.522 | 0.019 |
| 20 | 38 | Bradley SMITH | KTM | 1'57.506 | 1.530 | 0.008 |
| 21 | 30 | Takaaki NAKAGAMI | Honda | 1'57.647 | 1.671 | 0.141 |
| 22 | 12 | Thomas LUTHI | Honda | 1'57.729 | 1.753 | 0.082 |
| 23 | 45 | Scott REDDING | Aprilia | 1'57.941 | 1.965 | 0.212 |
| 24 | 17 | Karel ABRAHAM | Ducati | 1'58.127 | 2.151 | 0.186 |
| 25 | 10 | Xavier SIMEON | Ducati | 1'58.453 | 2.477 | 0.326 |
| 26 | 50 | Sylvain GUINTOLI | Suzuki | 1'58.617 | 2.641 | 0.164 |
