Immediately started by a technical problem, the first three free practice sessions of the Malaysian MotoGP Grand Prix on the Sepang circuit set the tone: Things were not going to be easy for Johann zarco, forced to go through Q1 before qualifying in a very modest 17th position, trapped by the yellow flags.
Hope returned, however, during the warm-up held on a drying track, in which the Frenchman once again demonstrated his ability by setting the best time.
But during the 20-lap race, only a few seconds after the start, it was in 22nd position that we saw the Pramac driver in the first turn, before appearing 24th and last a few moments later.
The very good comeback subsequently undertaken by the Avignonnais, which took him to ninth place under the checkered flag, was however not completely enough to calm the disappointment of his supporters and commentators who did not hesitate to repeat that the bad starts were a recurring habit on bike number five…
However, Johann zarco is categorical: He made a good start, even a very good start! It was only afterwards, when shifting into second gear, when everything was managed electronically, that things got worse.
His most complete explanations were this time collected at the microphone of Canal +, a few moments after the race.
Johann zarco : " Yes, yet I had my best start of the season in timed qualifying: A 2,5 was good. But when I put second gear, the bike started to pitch up, and there, I lost places. It’s crazy, we can start well and still lose places. Afterwards, I tried to fight in the group, from the first turn. I had a lot of contact, bike on the inside, bike on the outside, and when I dive into the second turn, like we just said with (Jack Miller), because he was also a little sandwiched, I had to move aside to avoid hitting a motorcycle, and as a result I was last (laughs). I'm laughing but it doesn't feel good to be last. But I'm happy with the race because I did some really good overtaking under braking. I could stay in contact and position myself to overtake afterwards, and that in general was a bit of a weak point. So, I was able to do that and have a decent rhythm. The heat was quite hard to bear as there was even more heat behind the other bikes, but luckily with the camel bag I was able to drink and try to stay focused. So, I'm happy to have gradually come back up. The times were not bad, but when we were running below 2'01, around 2'00.5, it was a lot of pace to keep and the front tire was heating up a lot, so it started to slip. Afterwards, in 2'01, it was manageable. I think it took me a little while to pass Aleix (Espargaró) and then, that moment behind Miller when after mid-race he caught up with Binder and he even then went to catch up with Márquez, ah, I wanted and I hoped I could follow him, but I didn't have the speed. I think he must have done three laps under 2'01 and that made this gap where he caught Binder. And I stayed there, in the middle. So, well, I was able to pass Mir, it looks like he had some technical problems. No, it would have been good to follow Miller but he was really strong at the end of the race. But as we said to ourselves, at one point, me with four laps to go, wondering if I'm going to be able to finish the race, because it's hard, it's hot. I was able to get some air with three laps to go, and then push back for the last two laps and keep my place so as not to get attacked by Aleix or Morbidelli, but it was Aleix at that moment .
In mixed conditions, I rode well. As I said, with the wet tires in the dry, those are my conditions, but then, when we put on the slick tires, I was able to do two quick laps to test a little these patches of humidity which, finally, did not slip. So, it allowed me to have references in case we had to change bikes during the race. But it was a dry race from start to finish. I said that in terms of pace, I wasn't much slower than the others, and in fact, I wasn't very slow since being able to get back into the top 10 is good, starting far away. But I tell you: I got off to a good start. As I am told every time, “did you have a problem with the fire?” », Etc., I'm given 1000 lessons, but I'm working on it and I'm really off to a good start. But we see that the others are leaving even stronger and for the moment I don't have the solution. When they told me that it was good in the tests, I did as in the tests, and we saw that it wasn't enough. And again, to come back to the starts I did before, here I left faster than I left at Silverstone, just to remind people that the front row helps a lot. And for me, if I'm not on this first line, I lose a lot for the moment. But I still saw a lot of things, I understood that there are things in piloting that I would like to do but that I cannot. This year, we haven't found the key to doing very well: I can do well, but I don't do very well. But I'm really satisfied: it was a great race, some great overtaking, a great physical challenge, and always some experience to gain to become stronger at some point. given. »
MotoGP Australian Grand Prix results:
Classification credit: MotoGP.com
