Far from the somewhat formatted communication of traditional press releases, the exchanges between the French pilot and the journalists in the Tech3 hospitality are of a richness and simplicity that true enthusiasts will appreciate (you can find all his past debriefs in our section (“Interviews").
There is always the little detail that immerses us more every day in the world of MotoGP…
As usual, we report here the entirety of the comments of Johann zarco, in a raw way, therefore without any journalistic formatting or distortion.
Johann Zarco (in English) : “A difficult race, yes. A good start and the feeling was pretty OK at the start. From the start I was sliding from the back but I was able to control with my position (on the bike) and, above all, I had a very good feeling with the front, so I was able to to stay well under braking, to brake more or not. I was a little limited entering the corner, but I was fine. Sometimes some overtook me but I could stay with them, even if I always lost out when accelerating. This is really the most important point, and I had the same comments at the start of the season, but in the dry. Now we are at the same point, but in the wet, which means we are doing a good job.
When I moved up to fourth, I waited a bit because I thought my confidence in the front end would increase further and I would get faster and faster, and maybe I could catch up with them. But it was the opposite; I've always been good on the brakes, but when the tire wore out, I was even more at the limit. At the end of the race I was out of tire, spinning a lot and aquaplaning a lot, even on the straights. I tried to find solutions by not opening the throttle all the way or closing it to regain some grip, but Rins and the other guys overtook me on the straight because I was losing a lot of time. There was a lot of missing rubber on the top of the tire and that's really why I lost positions towards the end. »
What happened with Lorenzo?
“It was early in the race and I had confidence in my front end, so I could attack in turn #9. He tried to stay on the outside and when I came out of the corner I couldn't see him, although I thought maybe he could be there. And we touched because I was on my normal trajectory accelerating. It's a normal fact of racing because I was on the inside and I had this advantage. »
Switching to French…
“So good. The start was very good, I was able to take control of the bike and manage it well without losing too many positions. I felt pretty good but, straight away, compared to Petrucci, I was still lacking a lot in acceleration because of the rear grip. I had a tendency to lose the rear a little, but it remained under control. When I was in fourth position, I was losing time but I said to myself “I'm going to find the feeling to at least catch up with them”. For a moment, I think we had the same times, but instead of improving, the tire wore out, and then it got worse and worse. During the acceleration phase, when you straighten the bike, I had less and less rubber, and there, towards the end, I had a lot of aquaplaning. I had to manage, not to fall, and the others overtook me. This is the downside of the race. With conditions like that, it's really testing and it's good to be done. »
Do you think it would have been different with less water on the track?
" No. I would have worn the tire the same way and I would have had the same problem in the end. So it's more a question of fine-tuning the stroke length that we need to understand. »
You still end up as the first Yamaha rider…
“Yes, it’s a satisfaction. I still achieve almost all of my goals, and that's important. This is perhaps a sign that the Yamaha in general may have a small flaw, but I try not to think about it too much: we have a bike and we have to make it progress in all conditions. »
What do you remember or what did you learn from this weekend?
" Awesome ! Pole position is already huge. And being able to stay with the others means that it wasn't a pole position by chance and then I completely collapsed in the race and from the start of the race I lost all my positions . No, I was there to fight, and then we'll say that it's still a question of experience, knowledge of the bike and good settings. So we stay in the right rhythm throughout the race, and at one point we have to give up. »
You rode this winter in Australia. The Yamaha is pretty good there?
“I have great confidence going forward, and that is very important. Australia, we did the tests there and I think that will help a lot because it's a track where I had difficulties. But during the tests, I took the time to really get some good bearings and go little by little. Now it should be much colder than in the tests.
So I arrive, free of mind, a bit like I did today at Warm up, and I will take the right sensations to try to be in the good group. »
Japanese Grand Prix standings:
1 Andrea DOVIZIOSO-Ducati Team-Ducati
2 Marc MARQUEZ-Repsol Honda Team-Honda +0.249
3 Danilo PETRUCCI-OCTO Pramac Racing-Ducati +10.557
4 Andrea IANNONE-Team SUZUKI ECSTAR-Suzuki +18.845
5 Alex RINS-Team SUZUKI ECSTAR-Suzuki +22.982
6 Jorge LORENZO-Ducati Team-Ducati +24.464
7 Aleix ESPARGARO-Aprilia Racing Team Gresini-Aprilia +28.010
8 Johann ZARCO-Monster Yamaha Tech 3-Yamaha +29.475
9 Maverick VIÑALES-Movistar Yamaha MotoGP-Yamaha +36.575
10 Loris BAZ-Reale Avintia Racing-Ducati +48.506
11 Pol ESPARGARO-Red Bull KTM Factory Racing-KTM +56.357
12 Katsuyuki NAKASUGA -Yamalube Yamaha Factory Racing-Yamaha +1'00.181
13 Sam LOWES-Aprilia Racing Team Gresini-Aprilia +1'00.980
14 Hector BARBERA-Reale Avintia Racing-Ducati +1'03.118
15 Tito RABAT-EG 0,0 Marc VDS-Honda +1'03.514
16 Scott REDDING-OCTO Pramac Racing-Ducati +1'04.162
17 Bradley SMITH-Red Bull KTM Factory Racing-KTM +1'06.271
18 Hiroshi AOYAMA-EG 0,0 Marc VDS-Honda +1'13.250
Provisional ranking of the World Championship:
1 Marc MARQUEZ-Honda 244 points
2 Andrea DOVIZIOSO-Ducati 233
3 Maverick VIÑALES-Yamaha 203
4 Dani PEDROSA-Honda 170
5 Valentino ROSSI-Yamaha 168
6 Johann ZARCO-Yamaha 125
7 Jorge LORENZO-Ducati 116
8 Danilo PETRUCCI-Ducati 111
9 Cal CRUTCHLOW-Honda 92
10 Jonas FOLGER-Yamaha 84
11 Alvaro BAUTISTA-Ducati 70
12 Aleix ESPARGARO-Aprilia 62
13 Jack MILLER-Honda 56
14 Scott REDDING-Ducati 56
15 Andrea IANNONE-Suzuki 50
16 Loris BAZ-Ducati 45
