This pole position, Johann Zarco thought he had acquired it at the end of qualifying for the Doha Grand Prix. But Jorge Martin, his young MotoGP rookie teammate, stole the show under the checkered flag. No matter, the Frenchman is sincerely happy for the Spaniard who thus completes the double for a Pramac team in which he feels good. Still, for the race, it's more a Yamaha that he fears...
Johann zarco finished second in the race Qatar Grand Prix last Sunday behind Maverick Vinales. And this Saturday, after taking second place on the starting grid of the Doha Grand Prix on the same Losail track, he warned that the race pace of the official Yamaha was better than his.
That being said, the Frenchman confirmed his excellent form like that of the new GP21 Desmosedici, with second place on the grid for the second Grand Prix of the season on the international circuit of losail. The Frenchman has 7 podiums in MotoGP, but without a victory, fought courageously against the wind and then rejoiced in the qualifying double of Pramac-Ducati.
« In FP4, I prepared well for qualifying and regained confidence after the fall during practice ", said zarco. " I tried to make a good time with the new tire. I managed 1'53.9 minutes and then I knew I still had time for a fast lap. I suspected that we could be in the first row with a small 1'53. When I saw a time of 1'53.2 on the scoreboard, I thought that must be good enough for the best time. But then I saw that number 89 was on the best position on the grid. I was first surprised and then happy, because things are going almost perfectly for us in the Pramac team at the moment ».
John Zarco: “no one knows what will happen in the first rounds”
« Because the wind was so strong, I did without FP3. There was also a lot of sand in the air. So I preferred to wait and show a good FP4 »explains the tricolor. “ I did it the way I wanted, I had good speed, I was the fastest. We are fast, but the wind makes it difficult to maintain the racing pace. I suspect Viñales has a better race pace than us at the moment. Now we have to wait and see what we can do on Sunday. The front row is certainly useful for our mighty Ducati. This will definitely be an advantage in the initial phase. But then we have to adapt to the circumstances. No one knows at the moment what will happen tomorrow in the first laps ».
Friday, zarco was always looking for speed to keep Maverick Vinales under control. Will the warm-up be useful to him in this sense? “ It will hardly work to find anything in the warm-up as it takes place in the heat and in broad daylight. But today, we found something that made us faster. It was good progress. Maybe this move will give us a better impression of the race than a week ago. But it's hard to say at the moment. Chasing times requires a different strategy than a 22-lap race. But when you can ride that fast, it gives you a lot of motivation and confidence for the race ". Incidentally, this Pramac double is a snub for the factory team, whose executives still went to congratulate allies who are also now formidable adversaries.
MotoGP Qatar 2 J2: times
Credit rankings: MotoGP.com
