Zarco's journey to MotorLand

When it comes to joining the different circuits on the calendar MotoGP, pilots opt for the plane and the car for the majority of them, if not all. But this week, Johann Zarco was an exception.

The Cannes resident has in fact traveled no less than 950 km on a motorbike to reach MotorLand Aragon. And as if that wasn't enough, he didn't make this journey on the handlebars of his recent Ducati Multistrada, but on a Ducati 900 SS Darmah. “These 950 km went well on this old Ducati, he declared this afternoon. We first drove 200 km to reach the hotel and another group. »

The hotel provided a garage where two old Citroën 2CVs were stored. “We were all riding old bikes, but one of us had a problem, the one who chose a BMW. They worked on the bike until 1 a.m., but I went to bed a little earlier. The following day, this motorcycle experienced a problem after 200 km. As we were in France, I was able to arrange things so that we could send the bike home. »

The second day was indeed more difficult for the group of bikers who covered 500 km in 7h30. “It was a bit long, but that’s the adventure, smiled Zarco. On the last day, we did the 200 km in Spain. We knew the road well: it looks like the desert and it's very pretty, but it was a little too long, because there are a lot of very long straight lines. The turns are cool, but you have to go fast to have fun, and the group wasn't going fast enough for that. »

This journey was not decided on a whim, quite the contrary. This has been planned for several months. Initially, the idea was to leave Italy, cross the Alps then make a detour through Andorra to pick up Jack Miller on the way and head for Alcañiz. “When I learned about it (from this trip, editor’s note), I put forward the idea of ​​coming, because it's not very far from my house. The plan was to ride the Multistrada, but they started saying you shouldn't ride anything newer than 2000. I picked up on the joke and sent a picture of the Ducati, and they told me :  “if you are a man, come with it”. And since I'm a little stupid, I said “I'm coming”. »

But where does this superb Ducati Darmah come from? From the collection of Adrian Parassol, journalist, but also driver in the world endurance championship. “Johann and I know each other because we started motorcycling together, details Adrian Parassol. With my job as a journalist, I had the opportunity to meet him again and reconnect. For a while now, we've been due to go on a road trip with old Ducatis. I am lucky to have a father who was a Ducati dealer and who collects motorcycles. We had quite a few models who spoke to Johann. Unfortunately, with our respective schedules, it was complicated to organize that. »

And Adrian continues: “He texted me last week asking if I still had the Darmah and what condition it was in, because he was planning to go to the Aragon GP on his motorbike. He wanted to go with his Multistrada, but he couldn't ride a bike newer than the 2000s. So he thought about this bike, and when he showed it to his mechanics, they were excited! I restarted it and did a little service. »

A transporter then dropped off the Darmah at Zarco's home. “From there, I was convinced that the story was going to end there, that he was going to do 20 km and that he was going to give up… and in fact, not at all! He sent me photos on the road and I was able to follow that. It was truly deadly! For a MotoGP rider to do that, I would have already found it very cool, but for him to do it with my bike, it was even better. » With the Aragon/Misano double, Zarco has no plans to make a comeback with Darmah. “If I was with the Multistrada, I would go straight home on Sunday evening, because it’s an easy bike” commented the Frenchman.