He is one of those who surprised Jorge Lorenzo at the last tests in Valencia which opened the 2017 MotoGP off-season. For the Mallorcan, there was Viñales but also Zarco. The third thief is the teammate of the last city, Folger. Who was during the two days the fastest driver of the Tech3 team and the fastest rookie. With a time of 1'30.948s, he finished his work 0.973s behind the best time achieved by Rossi's new pair. Not so bad !
Let it be said, this time, and for the first time in his career at the highest level, Johann zarco will have to do with a teammate. This one is a Jonas Folger who perhaps didn't quite convince during his Moto2 period, but who surprised when he entered MotoGP. At the Valencia tests, he showed that he had his place: “ I hadn't set any particular goal for myself, except not to fall » comments the German. “ It's better this way because we don't put pressure on ourselves. Otherwise, this bike is amazing. It delivers a lot of power, much more than I expected. And yet it remains docile, pleasant and easy to drive. ».
« I had the chance to follow Jorge Lorenzo and I appreciated his very fluid style. That's how you have to ride these bikes and that's what I have to learn because it's the opposite of a Moto2 ". An analysis exactly shared by Johann zarco taking the same reference! “ My chief mechanic constantly insisted that we had to be smooth with these bikes. Braking very late, accelerating very early, this is not the priority on these machines, which are different from Moto2 and Moto3. But it's hard to keep that in mind all the time ».
So he was trained by the team: “ we reduced the power for certain turns because I was pitching too much which prevented me from taking the right line. Then we put the power back on once my style had adapted. We focused on the front while always adapting my driving style. I have so much to learn. We ended up fixing the front so that the problems came from the rear! I was still able to approach the limits »
Familiar limits without going through the gravel trap. On this occasion, the 23-year-old rider also discovered the requirements of a MotoGP: “ I'm going to train differently to be stronger. I have a strong program for this winter so I don't think I will have any problems next year. My arms were sore the day after the first day, but that's also normal because I was tense. I thought I would suffer more to be honest. I am very happy to be in this team that does everything to make things easier so that I get the most out of everything ". The Tech3 magic is already happening.
