With 194 points against 191 for Alex Rins, Johann is still leader of the Moto2 World Championship, with a good lead over Tom Lüthi (141 points), Sam Lowes (137) and Jonas Folger (127). From now on, it is a duel which will oppose the Frenchman and the Spaniard during the five remaining Grands Prix. But be careful because Zarco had a 34-point lead on the evening of the Austrian Grand Prix, and he lost 31 points in the last three races (Brno, Silverstone, Misano).
At Misano, Johann was always among the top three during every free practice session. Then he took a nice pole position, while Rins was only eighth. Zarco jumped into the lead as soon as the lights went out and completed the first three laps in command. So far all was well.
Then things started to go wrong from the fourth loop, when he was overtaken by Franco Morbidelli, Alex Rins, Lorenzo Baldassarri and Tom Lüthi. No. 5 was fifth. The situation continued to deteriorate when Zarco was passed by Sam Lowes then Takaaki Nakagami. Meanwhile Rins, who didn't ask for so much, took first position on the sixth lap. The Paginas Amarillas HP 40 pilot was then quite simply the leader of the World Championship with a 5-point lead. Then Lowes fell, and Johann came back to overtake Tom Lüthi and Franco Morbidelli, crossing the finish line in fourth position, after which fortunately for him Lorenzo Baldassarri prevented alex rins to win and move to the top of the provisional ranking.
“It’s a shame because I was ready to fight for victory today, because I had been very strong since the start of this weekend, regretted Johann. I got off to a good start and felt good, but not very fast. I tried to go faster, but I couldn't. When I started wrestling, I lost a lot of positions. I kept my calm because I thought I could come back, but it didn't happen like that. I did my best to keep up and was able to pass a few drivers, but not enough to reach the podium. We are still leaders, but Rins had a great race and should be congratulated for that. Now we will analyze what happened and work to improve for the next races. »
For the team manager Aki Ajo, the problem could possibly have come from a tire: “It was a weekend during which Johann was very strong, especially during the tests. Fourth place is not bad, but we lost a few points of our lead in the general classification. After two good days of work, we need to thoroughly analyze what happened during the race. It seems that maybe this time we just weren't lucky enough to have a tire that would have allowed us to push hard in the first few laps. However, we were gradually able to move up and get a good final place. This happens sometimes, and we will be happy to continue the fight for the title in the next few races. »
