[MotoGP] Exclusive interview with Florian Ferracci (Johann Zarco's mechanic) “We were all surprised by Johann's enormous progress”

The first test session of the year brought together the full KTM and Aprilia teams in Sepang for three days with their permanent and development riders.

Florian, how did the first three days go for Johann Zarco, you and your KTM team, before the arrival of the official Honda, Ducati, Yamaha and Suzuki riders?

“There was Mika Kallio with Johann and Pol Espargaro. His first day was devoted to testing all the bikes of each KTM rider, to rough them up and see that there were no anomalies. He tried the two motorcycles of Pol Espargaro, those of Johann zarco, Hafizh Syahrin and Miguel Oliveira.

“Mika then moved on to his personal work, on his own bike which he used for the duration of the tests. Johann and Pol did not ride on the first day, because Mika was filming with their motorcycles at the time.

“Then we started again after the winter, to refine the pilots' feelings a little. It went very well. We started slowly, little by little, so that Johann could regain the feeling with the bike.

“We didn’t rush. We didn't really try out any pieces at first. It was a bit of a reset for everyone.”

Then came for a second three-day session to join the official riders of the four uncompromising brands (Honda, Ducati, Yamaha, Suzuki). How has your team evolved with Johann?

“There, on the other hand, we started to try out a few pieces. We also tweaked his position on the bike, with different seat foams and things like that. Then little by little, the times started to improve.

“What you need to know is that we had the advantage of having driven the two days before, but the official drivers without concessions were very quickly on the pace. They are used to it, they know the circuit well (laugh). They have bikes that have been developed for a long time and they were fast very quickly ».

During the second day with the official drivers (the fifth in fact, in total), Johann Zarco passed Pol Espargaró:

1st Maverick Viñales, Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP 1:58.897

11th Johann Zarco, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 1:59.973 to 1.076

17th Pol Espargaró, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 2:00.305 to 1.408

Was it important to Johann?

“I don’t think he’s focusing on Pol’s times. Of course he sees them, but he is very focused on what he has to do. Its goal is to properly tune the bike so that it is easy to ride for racing.

“He doesn’t fight compared to Pol. Maybe he has a little personal satisfaction inside, but that would have to be asked of him. He's not obsessed with that. In addition, they each have different driving styles and settings that are not the same. Each rider has his own way of doing things, and even if they have the same bikes, they are never set up in the same way.”

Were you happy with Johann's progress at Sepang, and did you expect him to get used to the KTM RC 16 so quickly?

“For our part, we were quite satisfied, because even if – I repeat – Johann's goal was not to do a timed lap while taking all the risks, he made good progress.

“Compared to the best time we achieved here in Sepang, we improved by about a second. And Johann rode in the times he achieved with his Yamaha, which is a very good sign for us.

“We refined lots of little details. He's starting to gain confidence in his bike, and that's great. He feels it well. He manages to anticipate what will happen depending on how he enters the corner. It's great for his confidence. Despite the somewhat difficult start in Valencia where he fell twice, there we filmed for five days without there being the slightest fall, it was a very good sign.”

How is the Qatar GP shaping up?

“We will know more in a week, but a priori it looks pretty good. It’s a circuit that has always been successful for Johann. We don't put pressure on ourselves at all about that and we will do the best we can.

“We have a good base for the bike, or to be more precise at Sepang the bike was going very well, especially in race configuration. Johann did a lot of fast laps with times very close to his best time, on racing tires, even when it was very hot in the middle of the day. And that is very encouraging for the future. »

Title photo: Florian Ferracci on the left, Sebastian Kuhn and Johann Zarco.

Final Sepang test results :

Video: Some images from the Sepang tests

Photos © Gold and Goose for KTM