There is no need to recall Johann Zarco's complete assessment at the end of his first season in MotoGP, but let's do it anyway:
– 2 second places (Le Mans, Valence),
– 1 third place (Sepang),
– 6 first rows including 2 pole positions (Assen, Motegi), 2 second positions (Sepang, Valence) and 2 third positions (Le Mans, Phillip Island),
– 4 best laps in the race (Losail, Red Bull Ring, Phillip Island, Valence),
– best Rookie 2017,
– best independent driver 2017,
– 6th in the world championship with 174 points, 34 less than Valentino Rossi.
Faced with its exceptional performance, Ramon Forcada, track engineer Maverick Vinales, gives an explanation of the Tech3 driver's exploits. This explanation is all the more interesting given that the experienced Spanish technician obviously has access to all Yamaha data…
In favor of the French driver, he sees the latter's particular driving style, which allows him to use the soft rear tire better than many other drivers. But this positive aspect is not universally valid for each track, as reported by the Spanish site es.motorsportcom : “In some cases it will be faster, in others it will be slower than the others. But the data shows he rides differently than Maverick and Valentino. His riding style is similar to that of Capirossi or Kocinski: in their time they were also able to use the softer front tire, while the rest of the group could not. With these tires, no one could finish a race, while they could have done two. Capirossi also used extra-soft rubber, while Kocinski had a special one that the others could only do three or four laps with. »
Ramon Forcada also appreciates the strategies used by his pilot Tech3 team: « Zarco is very good and very intelligent, because he has a lot of patience. When there is water during testing, he always stays out and tries things. Open the throttle here or there, brake here or there. And then, when he feels safe, he starts to attack. »
However, he does not seem really impressed and warns: « His season was very good, that’s obvious. But regarding the results, if he had been part of an official team, they would not be as good. »
This is a very enigmatic phrase that can have two meanings. Either the one who refused to follow Jorge Lorenzo at Ducati simply indicates that 6th behind Maverick Vinales and Valentino Rossi could not be considered excellent if Tech3 was an official team. Either things would have happened differently if Johann Zarco had been part of the Movistar Yamaha team.
Let's just hope, to fully understand the essence of his thoughts, that the Spanish technician will be able to clarify this soon...
