This Friday September 23, 2022, Johann zarco answered questions from journalists from the Motegi circuit at the end of the first day of the Japanese Grand Prix.
The French driver was very efficient during most of a session extended to 75 minutes before falling without seriousness at the very end of the session.
As usual, we report here the words of Johann zarco without the slightest formatting, even if it is partially translated (vouvoiement for English, tutoiement for French).
Johann zarco : " I started very well. I was happy to be on this circuit where I have many references. I was able to be fast immediately and it was good to ride on this track because I had a lot of fun. The work has been good and 1h15 working on the bike is quite a lot, and you can really exploit the session well because you can do a lot of laps, although you have to save energy for the time attack at the end . That's exactly what happened today, with a few drops of rain but never enough to get wet, although you must think it's important to be quick in case a big rain comes. For the time attack, I was rather competitive and in the last laps I had good references with Aleix but I crashed at turn 7. It's a shame because I missed Q2 by 1/1000 of a second, but that’s the category. So I'm disappointed to be 11th and to miss Q2, because if it rains tomorrow we won't be able to improve the time. But It doesn't change anything, I have to keep pushing, and that's OK: It was good to get back on this track and the conditions were immediately good. We set fast times because everyone is going fast and the bikes now have incredible performance which allows you to attack hard immediately. In other words, we rode almost the whole season and on any track in the world you just get on the bike and you go fast. So even without having been back here for three years, we are fast. »
Is this acceleration and braking circuit even more physically demanding with ride height devices?
« I don't think it's harder in braking because as we are now used to gaining time when braking, we are used to preparing our body and mind to be ready for that. We also know that the front tire is better than before. At first I felt a little pain in the forearms, but I think if you feel good you can control and it's not so tiring because you have a little time on the straights to recover.
»
Why did you fall?
« I had already done my Time Attack, I slowed down a lap, and then I saw Aleix Espargaró following Viñales: I said to myself “this could be good”. And indeed, I had improved the first two sectors, but I crashed at turn 7: A little too much angle! I almost let go of the brake hoping it would pass, but maybe my front hard tire, which was already 18 turns old, was too much for the speed I wanted to go. I didn't want to come back to the soft because I had a good feeling on the hard, so that may have been the constraint. And it's a shame, because I'm at 288/1000, but I'm not in it.
»
How were the track conditions?
« Sometimes a little drizzle on the visor is worrying because we see that the others continue to improve. As it was very hot, it still took some time for the track to start slipping, and it was just a little drizzle from time to time, and we quickly realized that. »
Is it easy to appreciate the conditions, when it's hot and it rains a little?
« It never really rained enough to think we had to slow down. »
Slowing down in these conditions, what does that mean?
« It still means using a lot less angle to avoid falling stupidly. »
How do you use the ride height device here?
« I use it as usual on all circuits: When others use the rear, I use the rear and the front. This is really the type of circuit where perhaps I can find an advantage, but ultimately we see that the advantage is too slight to see a difference. We continue to use it because it is development and information, we are used to it, and we complete the analysis. »
MotoGP Japanese Grand Prix FP1 results at Motegi:
Classification credit: MotoGP.com
