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 : “Regarding this first day, when we started this morning, I immediately suffered a few slips from behind. And even using the medium tire we couldn't improve the feeling much: I didn't have full control and I was already fighting with the bike. But we worked well with the team, and I think we finally hit the nail on the head during the afternoon, and we started putting in some really good times. My feeling was pretty good too and it's a shame that I had a crash because I think we are now back to the bike that I feel and with which I can do my job as a rider. We have to work on small things again but we didn't have time because of my crash, but if I can't say I'm happy, I can say I feel good to progress tomorrow.”
What change did you make between morning and afternoon?
“Technically, I don't really know, but I really tried not to be obsessed with the rear grip, even though that's the main problem. Because I tell myself that if I stay focused on this problem, I won't find the solution. So I told the team and I think we then analyzed the comments differently, so that there was a difference.”
You say you're sliding backwards. With all the tires?
“I didn't try the soft tire in the morning, but now I understand, with the last races we have done, that we don't have a tire that can save all situations. If you have a tire that saves every condition you can have on the bike, that means it's just the tire doing the job, not the bike. I was able to stay cool, compared to the last Grands Prix, and explain this to the team. In my comments, I also tried to find something else, and we were immediately able to function better.”
During the last 2 Grands Prix, you said that you had gone in the wrong direction in working with the team. Is this also the case today?
“I hope so, and it seems so, because I had this feeling that we started well but we couldn't progress, compared to the factory drivers. Maybe now I'm further back in the rankings, and that's why I feel like I can improve. But no: here in Assen, like in Barcelona but the track is narrower, when you have an improvement in the time, it can be brought about by small things and it allows you to relax on the bike. And even though I'm tenth today, I feel like I can progress to the top 5, which would be a great place to fight for the podium on Sunday.”
Did you crash at turn 9?
“Yes, the bike was still moving a little at the exit of turn 8, and as it is a fast track but all the turns follow one another quickly, it disturbed me a little when braking for turn 9. So I returned rather in turn 9, and with this different trajectory, when I tried to release the brakes to turn, it was too aggressive for the bike and I lost the front. I slipped and was OK. But the Marshalls are very slow. They have to learn to be faster because when you come back on the bike, you would like to go back and come back into the Pit Lane (laughs). We have to give them some lessons because they are very slow.”
Are there any particular places on the circuit where you need to improve?
“Last year my weak point was in very fast changes of direction where you are in 6th and you have to downshift to 5th and 4th, like in turns 6/7, and 13/14. This was my weak point last year. It's still not easy in these places. I want to feel comfortable everywhere and if I have any weak points left, I want to control them. If I concentrate all my mind on that, I think I will especially lose the rest of the route. It's a difficult circuit, you go very fast with a heavy bike in the changes of direction. And you really feel that by changing things in your riding, you can find solutions. These will perhaps be my two weak points, but that's not what I want to improve the most with the bike, because I know that when it responds well to what I ask, then I can change things myself. -even ".
Can you tell us about your day in French?
" Yes. A difficult first session, with a bike that slipped a lot immediately. No way to adjust this slide during the morning session, when we made 2 pit stops and were able to try two different things. I didn't feel like the solution was coming, and the fact that the bike was sliding a little too much made it very nervous and hard to control. On the other hand, in the afternoon, I feel that we approached the problem differently and that allowed us to resolve a lot of things. And that made me happy. I now feel that I need to work again to make these small adjustments. We had a not bad base but not really top-notch to be able to say “I'm doing my job as a pilot and I'm going for it”. I felt that as a driver I couldn't do what I wanted. And there, it’s starting to come back, and that, I think, bodes well.”
Compared to last year, it feels like you're about the same level but the factory bikes are more competitive and the best riders are faster...
" Yes yes. We know that the official teams have a big staff behind them who can pay attention to lots of details. And the tire/electronic consistency is almost like last year, and that, for his teams, it really feels like “OK, we know what we had, we’ll continue”.
We made good use of what we had last year, but since it's almost the same, it's hard to do much better. I think that might be a reason, but that doesn’t mean it makes the mission impossible.”
Have you started to think about the race, in relation to the weather?
“Compared to last year, we have a softer tire at the front, and in my opinion it is too soft. So I'll have to race with at least the medium. Maybe not the hard one, but the medium shouldn't go too badly. And for the rear, tomorrow we will try the soft for a longer time, because in the end I only passed it once and I did 3 laps on it. It gave me the time in 34.1, but not with the right bike because the fact of having crashed, we didn't have time to do the right things on the other bike and I came away a little with the dick and the knife.”
A Marshall internship at ZF Grand Prix?
“Yes, in the farmhouse, in Eyguières. Necessary. But it's not just here in Holland, it's almost everywhere. Or perhaps we are the ones who are programmed to go too quickly, but I think there could be a little step to take.”
You can find all of Johann Zarco's daily debriefings in our section “Interviews"
Dutch Grand Prix Assen MotoGP FP2: Chronos
| 1 | 25 | Maverick VIÑALES | Yamaha | 1'33.378 | ||
| 2 | 29 | Andrea Iannone | Suzuki | 1'33.499 | 0.121 | 0.121 |
| 3 | 9 | Danilo PETRUCCI | Ducati | 1'33.764 | 0.386 | 0.265 |
| 4 | 46 | Valentino ROSSI | Yamaha | 1'33.779 | 0.401 | 0.015 |
| 5 | 35 | Cal Crutchlow | Honda | 1'33.812 | 0.434 | 0.033 |
| 6 | 4 | Andrea Dovizioso | Ducati | 1'33.859 | 0.481 | 0.047 |
| 7 | 99 | Jorge Lorenzo | Ducati | 1'33.870 | 0.492 | 0.011 |
| 8 | 93 | Marc Márquez | Honda | 1'34.041 | 0.663 | 0.171 |
| 9 | 42 | Alex Rins | Suzuki | 1'34.047 | 0.669 | 0.006 |
| 10 | 5 | johann zarco | Yamaha | 1'34.133 | 0.755 | 0.086 |
| 11 | 26 | Dani PEDROSA | Honda | 1'34.167 | 0.789 | 0.034 |
| 12 | 55 | Hafiz Syahrin | Yamaha | 1'34.246 | 0.868 | 0.079 |
| 13 | 41 | Aleix Espargaro | Aprilia | 1'34.318 | 0.940 | 0.072 |
| 14 | 19 | Alvaro BAUTISTA | Ducati | 1'34.484 | 1.106 | 0.166 |
| 15 | 17 | Karel ABRAHAM | Ducati | 1'34.522 | 1.144 | 0.038 |
| 16 | 43 | Jack Miller | Ducati | 1'34.535 | 1.157 | 0.013 |
| 17 | 53 | Tito RABAT | Ducati | 1'34.576 | 1.198 | 0.041 |
| 18 | 38 | Bradley SMITH | KTM | 1'34.700 | 1.322 | 0.124 |
| 19 | 44 | Pol Espargaró | KTM | 1'34.822 | 1.444 | 0.122 |
| 20 | 30 | Takaaki NAKAGAMI | Honda | 1'34.855 | 1.477 | 0.033 |
| 21 | 45 | Scott REDDING | Aprilia | 1'34.970 | 1.592 | 0.115 |
| 22 | 21 | Frank MORBIDELLI | Honda | 1'35.287 | 1.909 | 0.317 |
| 23 | 12 | Thomas LUTHI | Honda | 1'36.129 | 2.751 | 0.842 |
| 24 | 10 | Xavier SIMEON | Ducati | 1'36.157 | 2.779 | 0.028 |
