Si Johann zarco is the tree that hides the forest at Yamaha, Valentino Rossi is Iwata's life insurance. At Le Mans, he once again established himself as the Sunday man and he brought back a podium from Sarthe which was good for morale. But this access does not save appearances and the Doctor calms everyone down in view of the next Italian Grand Prix…
Starting ninth and therefore from the third row, the Doctor displayed his racing knowledge to take third place under the checkered flag of the Grand Prix of France. Here he is fourth in the championnat, three points behind the second held by his teammate Casa Particular in Viñales who is 39 lengths behind the winner of the day, Marc Márquez. And between the two Yamaha officials, we find the Tech3 pilot Johann zarco equipped with an M1.
That being said, there is nothing to brag about: “ It’s always nice to get on a podium. It's good because I was quite pessimistic after qualifying ". And there he sends a sting… “ I don't know how Viñales works, but in these moments you have to look for the 10 or 20% that is missing. We worked part of the night to find traction and acceleration. This morning I had a motorcycle that wasn't so bad ».
« We made the right choice of tires and we were able to achieve this result. I tried to go for Petrucci but he was really fast. This result is also due to falls. It’s like that, it’s the bike we have, we make do with it. I hope my efforts will help the engineers at Yamaha ».
He finishes : " you have to keep in mind that this track is lenient with Yamahas. And what's more, the weather was nice there, with good temperatures. Mugello is coming and after the tests we did there, I think we're going to cryr”. The message to his compatriots is clear…
HJC French Grand Prix J.3: Ranking
| 1 | 93 | Marc Márquez | Honda | 41'49.773 |
| 2 | 9 | Danilo PETRUCCI | Ducati | +2.310 |
| 3 | 46 | Valentino ROSSI | Yamaha | +5.350 |
| 4 | 43 | Jack Miller | Ducati | +6.314 |
| 5 | 26 | Dani PEDROSA | Honda | +7.419 |
| 6 | 99 | Jorge Lorenzo | Ducati | +10.355 |
| 7 | 25 | Maverick VIÑALES | Yamaha | +23.758 |
| 8 | 35 | Cal Crutchlow | Honda | +25.795 |
| 9 | 41 | Aleix Espargaro | Aprilia | +26.206 |
| 10 | 42 | Alex Rins | Suzuki | +27.937 |
| 11 | 44 | Pol Espargaró | KTM | +32.304 |
| 12 | 55 | Hafiz Syahrin | Yamaha | +34.962 |
| 13 | 21 | Frank MORBIDELLI | Honda | +37.881 |
| 14 | 38 | Bradley SMITH | KTM | +38.299 |
| 15 | 30 | Takaaki NAKAGAMI | Honda | +41.986 |
| 16 | 12 | Thomas LUTHI | Honda | +45.260 |
| 17 | 17 | Karel ABRAHAM | Ducati | +56.872 |
| 18 | 10 | Xavier SIMEON | Ducati | + 1'12.117 |
| Not Classified | ||||
| 45 | Scott REDDING | Aprilia | 17 lapses | |
| 53 | Tito RABAT | Ducati | 17 lapses | |
| 5 | johann zarco | Yamaha | 19 lapses | |
| 4 | Andrea Dovizioso | Ducati | 23 lapses | |
| 19 | Alvaro BAUTISTA | Ducati | 26 lapses | |
| Not Finished 1st Lap | ||||
| 29 | Andrea Iannone | Suzuki | 0 laps |
