It's nothing to say that at this moment, between Johann zarco and KTM, the account is not there. The first turns of the wheels during the off-season had raised the alarm. And what followed confirmed the bad omens. This first Grand Prix at Qatar could only be the continuation of this decidedly complicated adaptation phase between the French driver and the Austrian machine. In this sense, this weekend in Losail was a “stress test” between the two parties. Who passed the test.
Of course, we don't show off. Pete Beirer, the sportsman from the Mattighofen firm soberly declared: “ we are satisfied to see that we are less far from the winner than last year. But we're not happy with the rest ". It must be said that, to drive the point home a little further, Aprilia made the top 10 targeted by KTM thanks to the brother of its most prominent rider, Aleix Espargaró.
But in the box Johann zarco, there were tensions. So much so that the same Beirer had some fears at the start of the Qatari race: “ frustrated as he was after the days of Friday and Saturday, we had big worries, and my biggest fear was that, because of all this frustration, he would try to force fate, give up everything and possibly hurt himself . Fortunately, he didn't do that, but instead opted for a wise run ».
A performance which ended with the point of fifteenth place, fifteen seconds from the winner Dovizioso. Beirer comments: “ perhaps it was ultimately important that there was tension in the box this weekend. This is where we hit rock bottom. We realized he was there, but he also understood that he had to do something to get us out of this rut.e ”.
Sunday night, zarco declared: “ My goal was to finish the race and see how the bike performed over the 22 laps. I still learned a lot in this first race with KTM and we were better than expected. Being 15 seconds from the summit isn't so bad. My intention was to get into the top ten, and I think that's a realistic goal if we continue like this. I had more problems today than expected, but in Argentina I want to push hard to be in the top 10. If I fail, I will try to score as many points as possible. For the next races, I will accept what I have and adapt to it. I have to accept that my feeling on the bike is often bad, but I have to face it. A new phase would therefore begin between zarco and KTM…
🤔 @ andreaiannone29 needed a lift back to the pits at the end of the race and it's probably better to not ask why 🤭😅#QatarGP 🇶🇦 pic.twitter.com/Ekbd4su8Hg
- MotoGP @ 🏁 (@MotoGP) March 10, 2019
MotoGP, Qatar J3: classification
| 1 | 4 | Andrea Dovizioso | Ducati | 42'36.902 |
| 2 | 93 | Marc MÁRQUEZ | Honda | +0.023 |
| 3 | 35 | Cal Crutchlow | Honda | +0.320 |
| 4 | 42 | Alex RINS | Suzuki | +0.457 |
| 5 | 46 | Valentino ROSSI | Yamaha | +0.600 |
| 6 | 9 | Danilo PETRUCCI | Ducati | +2.320 |
| 7 | 12 | Maverick VIÑALES | Yamaha | +2.481 |
| 8 | 36 | Joan Mir | Suzuki | +5.088 |
| 9 | 30 | Takaaki NAKAGAMI | Honda | +7.406 |
| 10 | 41 | Aleix ESPARGARÓ | Aprilia | +9.636 |
| 11 | 21 | Frank MORBIDELLI | Yamaha | +9.647 |
| 12 | 44 | Pol ESPARGARÓ | KTM | +12.774 |
| 13 | 99 | Jorge Lorenzo | Honda | +14.307 |
| 14 | 29 | Andrea Iannone | Aprilia | +14.349 |
| 15 | 5 | johann zarco | KTM | +15.093 |
| 16 | 20 | Fabio QUARTARARO | Yamaha | +15.905 |
| 17 | 88 | Miguel OLIVEIRA | KTM | +16.377 |
| 18 | 17 | Karel ABRAHAM | Ducati | +22.972 |
| 19 | 53 | Tito RABAT | Ducati | +23.039 |
| 20 | 55 | Hafiz Syahrin | KTM | +43.242 |
| Not Classified | ||||
| 38 | Bradley SMITH | Aprilia | 2 lapses | |
| 43 | Jack Miller | Ducati | 10 lapses | |
| 63 | Francesco Bagnaia | Ducati | 13 lapses |
