“When Jorge overtook me I felt pretty good and expected to stay with him until fighting on the last lap. But no. In the last eight laps he was a little better in acceleration, and when you lose a few meters in that area it's really difficult to make up for them. »
These two sentences of Johann zarco pronounced during his debriefing after the Jerez Grand Prix (see his full remarks here) summarize the French pilot's work plan during his test of the on the Andalusian track.
Extremely efficient and authoritative when entering corners (we saw it during these overtakes on Rossi, Vinales, Iannone and Márquez), the Tech3 driver has shared with us for several weeks already (see here) that its relative weak point lay in corner exits.
Also, quite logically, improving this subject was the main objective of yesterday in Jerez. A day that Johann Zarco concluded with the 9th fastest time, 0,893 seconds behind a reinvigorated Maverick Viñales.
Johann zarco : «After my superb race on Sunday, it was good to get back on the bike and work with the team. During the race I couldn't keep up with Lorenzo and he could exit the corners better than me. Improving that was our main goal today and we made good progress because my feeling is now better. It was quite warm and windy like Sunday which was helpful. Overall, we tested a combination of various options, because I wanted to work on my exits from corners, more than the entries. I also wanted to understand the electronics, chassis and suspension as much as possible. I still need experience and I have to grow with all the elements that I have in my hands, so that step by step I understand this great Yamaha better and better. As for the Michelin front tire, it was good to try it, and I was almost doing the same times as Sunday, which is very encouraging. However, I don't have enough experience to fully comment on this first test. Overall what we achieved on Monday was beneficial and in the similar conditions to Sunday I improved my pace and was faster. So I can be positive for the races to come and for my home Grand Prix at Le Mans. »
1 VIÑALES, Maverick Movistar Yamaha 1'38.635
2 MARQUEZ, Marc Repsol Honda +0.002
3 PEDROSA, Dani Repsol Honda +0.081
4 ESPARGARO, Aleix Aprilia +0.364
5 DOVIZIOSO, Andrea Ducati +0.395
6 LORENZO, Jorge Ducati +0.489
7 CRUTCHLOW, Cal LCR Honda +0.684
8 BARBERA, Hector Reale Avintia Ducati +0.825
9 ZARCO, Johann Monster Yamaha Tech3 +0.893
10 REDDING, Scott Octo Pramac Ducati +0.901
11 MILLER, Jack EG 0,0 Marc VDS Honda +0.913
12 RABAT, Tito EG 0,0 Marc VDS Honda +0.941
13 IANNONE, Andrea Suzuki Ecstar +1.019
14 FOLGER, Jonas Monster Yamaha Tech3 +1.162
15 PETRUCCI, Danilo Octo Pramac Ducati +1.244
16 ESPARGARO, Pol Red Bull KTM +1.324
17 SMITH, Bradley Red Bull KTM +1.476
18 TSUDA, Takuya Suzuki Ecstar +1.528
18 BAZ, Loris Reale Avintia Ducati +1.742
19 KALLIO, Mika Red Bull KTM +1.747
20 ROSSI, Valentino Movistar Yamaha +1.828
21 LOWES, Sam Aprilia +1.937
23 GUINTOLI, Sylvain Suzuki Ecstar +2.625
