It was as a surprise guest, thanks to his recent formalization at KTM in 2019, that Johann Zarco was invited to the pre-event press conference of the Spanish Grand Prix alongside Andrea Dovizioso, Marc Márquez, Maverick Vinales , Andrea Iannone, Tito Rabat and Jorge Lorenzo.
We publish here the passages which concern him, these are the French pilot's own words, or those of Marc Márquez about him.
Johann zarco : “I am happy that we are announcing it this weekend and it is a great challenge to live for the future. A European manufacturer with a European rider, that means if you get very good results and you develop the bike well, we can have a fantastic future. The way they progressed last year makes me think something is possible. I had a choice and I went there because I want to experience this challenge. I'm now living a big dream, my feeling is pretty good in MotoGP and I'm really enjoying it. The performances are also good and I hope to stay at this level for the next 2 years.”
We then ask Marc Márquez, referring to the outdated rumors of Johann Zarco's arrival at Honda, who would he like as a teammate...
Marc Márquez : “I think Johann is one of the strong riders that Honda was thinking of. He is very fast and he showed us during this season that he is improving each season. I think KTM chose a very good rider for their project. So yeah, we'll see how far he can go, but there's still one season before that. We will see…
About my teammate, I only said that I wanted a strong teammate. Now, of course, the names of the drivers are starting to fill in the boxes and everyone is looking for a team, but I think the only 2 drivers who are very strong are Dani Pedrosa and Andrea Dovizioso. So we’ll see, but since I’m here, I’m already happy.”
Johann, you said on Spanish television that one of the reasons for your choice for KTM was not to be Marc Márquez's teammate. Can you tell us more?
“That’s true but I didn’t exactly say that I didn’t want to be Marc’s teammate (laughs). He's a nice guy and this could be interesting. What I said, and this is also a question that my coach and I thought about, is that if you're next to Marc and you want to win races, you have to be as strong as him and maybe stronger. That means I'm increasing my riding level a lot, and so we thought if you have that level of riding, then you can also be fast with the KTM. So we believe that, and that's why we want this challenge, because we think if we put Marc on the KTM, where could she be? This is the question that many people wish they could answer. I'm not saying I'm like Marc, I'm just saying I want to reach that level of riding, and see where I could be with the KTM with that level of riding.”
Photo credits: MotoGP.com
