Last year, the goal of Johann and his manager and friend Laurent Fellon was to finish first rookie in the World Championship, which was achieved. What is the 2018 objective?
“The 2018 objective is to finish among the top seven in the World Championship, explains Laurent. And we want to achieve a victory. And why not two, if possible.
After achieving a superb pole position, zarco led the recent Qatar Grand Prix for a long time before experiencing front tire problems late in the race. Did that then affect his confidence?
" No, i dont think so. I don't think it affected his confidence. I don't see why not, I don't think so. »
I was thinking of the tire.
“No, he loves Michelin tires. What happened can happen to anyone. Well, that can always happen, but this time he did well at the front of the race and that's what's important. Afterwards, the rest is done, it's done. »
Honda has never been dominant at the Qatar GP in the past (1 victory in the last 7 MotoGP Grands Prix). The great shape of the motorcycle Marquez during the last Losail GP does it signal a new well-born machine?
“It is of course a little early to know. And Marquez still brings his great talent to the Honda. He was not far from victory. But it was Dovizioso who won. The Ducati is doing well, it is also well born. You have the Ducati which is doing well, the Honda, the official Yamaha, Johann's, the Suzuki... it's going to be a great Championship. »
Qualified eighth in Qatar, relatively far behind at 0.709, Valentino Rossi came third, just 0.797 behind winner Andrea Dovizioso. How do you explain such a recovery?
“Valentino gave everything during the race, he did his best. Even at his age, he manages to push his guts out as much as possible to achieve a great result. »
Last year, Johann qualified fourteenth in Argentina and then finished fifth in the Grand Prix. Is the Argentine circuit one of those favorable to him?
“It was on this Argentinian circuit that he won his first Moto2 Grand Prix. Afterwards, favorable or not favorable, he was always there to try to achieve the best performance. »
Last year Ducati finished 11th at Phillip Island and 9th at Valencia. Isn't that likely to be an obstacle to winning the title this year?
“No, because the Ducati has evolved greatly compared to last year. No, it will not be an obstacle because we will have to see the improved Ducati evolve. »
For Johann and you, are the negotiations for 2019 and 2020 currently going well?
" Yes everything is fine. Everything is going well. And There you go. Everything is fine. »
All right. Do you have any idea when you can make an announcement, or is it too early to talk about it?
“It’s too early to talk about it, we’ll have to wait at least for Jerez. We don't want to make announcements like the others. There's Honda, there's KTM, there's Suzuki, and we're going to have to wait for things to happen. We must stop placing drivers before the Championship starts. Before the first race, everyone already wants to know where the others are going. We have to wait a little, out of respect for our sponsors and partners. »
Photos © zfgrandprix.fr and Tech 3
