MotoGP Barcelona J3: Johann Zarco (Ducati/Ab) trapped

By starting from the second row of the Catalan Grand Prix, Johann Zarco could reasonably aim for a place in the top five at the finish.

Unfortunately, his race stopped at the second turn, the fault of “bad luck”.

When the red lights went out, the French driver's reaction time was within the norm, like Maverick Vinales, but quickly, its acceleration was less good than those of Pol Espargaro and Joan Mir who set off from the third line, and especially that ofAlex Rins who was rushing from the fifth grade!

Braking at the end of the straight, the Esponsorama driver then lost his lead. Danilo Petrucci.

Starting 6th, he therefore crossed the first turn stuck to the wheel of “Pétrux”, in 9th position, since Maverick Vinales, qualified just ahead of him, had already fallen to 17th place!

In the following left, Danilo Petrucci lost grip on his front tire but managed to recover. This unexpected maneuver led to a chain reaction of Johann zarco who, by reflex, grabbed his brake lever while he was on the corner, and in turn lost the grip of his front axle, this time without the possibility of rescue.

Andrea Dovizioso was the second unwitting victim of this cascading incident, thrown to the ground by the Frenchman's Ducati GP 19.

Exceptionally, Johann zarco canceled his debriefing by videoconference. You will therefore not have today all the details specific to this type of exercise, but only the remarks broadcast in its press release and those reported by Canal+.

Johann zarco : " I'm sad after today's race because I thought I could have a good race. The start was not bad, with good first braking. But Danilo did great braking at the first corner. He really dared and it happened because he braked very, very well. But in the change of direction, Petrucci had a scare. When he changed angle, given the very cool temperatures, it was very limited to the left. He almost fell and, out of reflex, I touched the brake. And as soon as I touched the brake, it slipped and I fell. Unfortunately, there was also Dovi next to me who couldn't avoid me. So two Ducatis on the ground, and especially that of Dovizioso who is playing for the championship. So it’s really a shame. After thinking about it, I even think that if I hadn't braked, I would have crashed into Danilo. And there, we could also fall, so we could not " almost " do nothing. It hurts, because it was a good weekend, quite solid, and given the pace of the race, there were good things to hope for, because it was running on a small 40 over the first 10 laps, and then the pace s 'is slowed down enormously. Maybe there was something to play for. Now we have to think about Le Mans. »

Ranking of the MotoGP Catalan Grand Prix in Barcelona:

Photo credit and ranking: MotoGP.com