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 : “It was a difficult race. It wasn't due to the high temperatures, but I think it's just we didn't find the solution to have a better feeling and better control of the bike. Friday, the start was difficult then we progressed. So I thought we had the solution, on Saturday I saw that we didn't. We couldn't figure out what the problem was so we got a bit lost. And again, today, I expected to have the possibility of staying with the leading group. At the beginning, they weren't very far and after 3 laps, I said to myself “Okay, you’re going to find the rhythm and you’re going to catch up with them.”. Eventually it got worse and worse, and then I got tired. When you have to push on the bike, everything becomes worse, and so it was necessary to finish, and that's the good thing about this day. Finish the race and score points. We must then forget this bad weekend and not dwell on this bad feeling that I had. I'm happy that for the next race in Barcelona we did a test there, and that test was positive. I felt good on the bike, which means everything is OK when we can have control. What I experienced today this weekend is not a reflection of what we can do with the bike, and what we can do during the season.”
You have encountered difficulties at Mugello over the last 2 years. Is it related to the track?
" It's possible ! Something to do with the track, something to do with me not understanding the track, something to do with me and my settings not being suitable for the track. But even Marc, who is the best driver on average through the season's 19 races, usually has bad races here. So if I can maybe compare myself to him, I'm bad here but I perform better on all the other tracks or on the majority of the other tracks, we'll understand. That's why you can see that I'm usually in front of some guys who, at Mugello, are in front of me. So yes, it's possibly because of the track. There is something. Maybe top speed is important and encourages fighting. It helps the Ducati riders and we also know that the latter are very strong in acceleration. And they use it very well! So it’s a difficult path that I haven’t yet found the solution to.”
What caused you the most problems? The front, the back?
“The worst part was the back!” Rear grip. But when you don't have control of your rear grip, then you can no longer turn and the bike becomes unstable. This feeling, for almost nothing you can solve it, but for almost nothing you can lose it. And this weekend we lost him.”
How can you have the good feeling on Friday, and lose it the following days?
“In fact, it was believing that we had the right feeling. It was more of a belief, sensations which were quite good, and which made us feel that we were taking the right direction, when ultimately, we were perhaps already at the limit of what we could do. So Friday was positive in thinking that we would continue to progress. He wasn't perfect yet. But the fact that we didn't progress put us in difficulty. It's yet another experience and it's always useful, but there, in terms of sensations, it even makes you question your driving. But I don't want to go in that thing and I'm really happy that for the next race, we were able to try the bike and the track, and see that we were performing well. So I'm going to arrive at a circuit where I know what I can do, where I know what I did, within a week. So these are good reasons to get back the good performances and the attack to think about the podium, because that's where we can be when everything is going well.
In English, you said you were a little tired at the end of the race. For what ?
“I think it's because of the grip with the rear tire. Not because of the tire choice, but simply the track and the bike. In general, we manage to control, even if the rear Grip is often a recurring point that we complain about, but it is also the general feeling of the rider because it is almost the most important condition for riding big bikes like That. If we don't have control of this behind the wheel, we can hardly control anything. So we're still looking for that, but this was even worse. The fact that we generally don't manage to use it well enough on many circuits during the championship, and that here we struggle, it almost resembles a situation like Marc's. So on the one hand, we can say “Hey, it’s really specific to here” and there is something, either in the riding or simply in the style between the settings of the bike and the riding, which does not fit. If I had the solution, we wouldn't have struggled like this. There, I still have the question mark, and that's why we have to do a reset in my head. I wanted to have fun today, and I was able to have some, but getting tired because the bike becomes less and less controllable makes you stick out your tongue. There you go, we see that we are not immune to an error: I made it 15 days ago, Marc made it this weekend, so it's a sign that we are all pushing ".
You fought with Vinales and Bautista but you couldn't resist...
“I was in front of Vinales and Bautista and I had a pace around 48. And then, Vinales passed me, and suddenly it changes trajectory and it changes pace. We lost a lot of time. Bautista continued and passed me too, and there, even wanting to resume my driving and the rhythm in 48, I couldn't. Then, as the race progresses, fatigue increases, and having less and less grip makes it harder and harder. So when they had a 5 second lead and I saw that I could no longer catch up with them, and even that they were letting go of me, I managed the last 2 laps.”
Lorenzo's lone rider, did you still think he was capable of it?
" No. I didn't even think about it at all. We were almost getting used to him starting so hard and then calming down. Here, we feel that Ducati's work has been useful, and there the tire perhaps finally has less performance loss from the start to the end of the race. We will say that it slides but that it is almost constant throughout. And the fact that he found his rhythm from the start allowed him not to lose it.”
During the Barcelona test, did you work in race conditions at race time?
" Yes ! We're not supposed to be in the same predicament we were in last year. The asphalt has changed and that's a big impact. And I also progressed in my feelings. And last year, I remember that on Saturday afternoon I understood something about riding, and suddenly it took away a lot of problems from the bike. And there, the fact of having ridden last week, I already remembered that and we will say that I am a year ahead. And that, I think, should be useful.”
Italian Grand Prix Mugello MotoGP J.3: Ranking
1 99 Jorge LORENZO Ducati 41'43.230
2 4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO Ducati +6.370
3 46 Valentino ROSSI Yamaha +6.629
4 29 Andrea IANNONE Suzuki +7.885
5 42 Alex RINS Suzuki +7.907
6 35 Cal CRUTCHLOW Honda +9.120
7 9 Danilo PETRUCCI Ducati +10.898
8 25 Maverick VIÑALES Yamaha +11.060
9 19 Alvaro BAUTISTA Ducati +11.154
10 5 Johann ZARCO Yamaha +17.644
11 44 Pol ESPARGARO KTM +20.256
12 55 Hafizh SYAHRIN Yamaha +22.435
13 53 Tito RABAT Ducati +22.464
14 38 Bradley SMITH KTM +22.495
15 21 Franco MORBIDELLI Honda +26.644
16 93 Marc MARQUEZ Honda +39.311
17 10 Xavier SIMEON Ducati +1'01.211
18 30 Takaaki NAKAGAMI Honda 5 Tours
Unclassified
41 Aleix ESPARGARO Aprilia 4 Tours
43 Jack MILLER Ducati 22 Tours
12 Thomas LUTHI Honda 22 Tours
Did not finish the first round
26 Dani PEDROSA Honda 0 Lap
17 Karel ABRAHAM Ducati 0 Tour
45 Scott REDDING Aprilia 0 Tour
