Johann Zarco had the season he needed in 2020 to get back on track and get back on track, leading to a good career in MotoGP. His mistake in switching to KTM almost cost him a previously promising sporting career, including two Moto2 World Champion titles. However, within a modest Avintia team and at the helm of a simple GP19, nothing was a foregone conclusion. But here is the Frenchman now in Ducati's little papers. Sports director Ciabatti explains what undoubtedly changed everything...
Last year, Johann zarco had a solid season on the team's Ducati GP19 Avintia, to the point that in 2021 he will be in the satellite team Pramac with a latest generation Desmosedici. A podium, a pole position and an iron character shown in Austria convinced the Borgo Panigale factory to no longer do without him. In 2021, at the age of 30, he will be the most experienced driver of the Italian brand, which has also focused on youth.
zarco will thus be the eldest of the official pilots Miller et bagnaia, from his teammate Martin who will be a rookie like bastianini et Marini also promoted from Moto2, but at Avintia, always with the GP19. The sports director Ciabatta returns to this improvement of the tricolor and explains it by the fact that the new tire Michelin rear so much criticized by Dovizioso et Petrucci, was never a worry for him.
Zarco never knew the Ducati with the old Michelin tire
And for good reason… " Johann Zarco was unable to take part in the first two tests in Valencia and Jerez in November ", remember Ciabatta. " Because he was hit in the ankle at the Valencia Grand Prix by Lecuona's motorcycle after his fall. So Johann sat on the Ducati for the first time during the winter testing in Sepang and Doha, where he already got the new rear tire construction from Michelin. So he immediately got to know the new bike with the new tires, he was therefore the only one of our pilots not to be overwhelmed ».
« He had no memory of the rear tires linked to the 2019 Ducati. The other Ducati riders knew how to ride the Desmosedici with the 2019 tires... This was especially true for our older generation, that is to say for Andrea and perhaps Danilo. You've been riding the Ducati for many years, but your usual style hasn't proven itself with the new tires. Johann, however, was not overwhelmed. It was an advantage for him. So he got used to the new package more quickly " explain Ciabatta on speedweek.
