Zarco: "It's good to see that I'm staying true to myself."

Starting from nineteenth place on the starting grid, as will be the case this Sunday from 14 p.m., Johann Zarco maneuvered very well in the first laps of the Misano Sprint to place himself in the top 10. Although the Cannes driver lost places until his final eleventh position, he was happy to have been able to be conquering in the first laps of the event.

"It felt good to see that I was staying on target, that I was able to concentrate and put my focus where I needed to be a fighter and have the best possible race. It was pretty good, I did well, I think there was a bit of a fight between several riders and I slipped through the cracks! Then I managed to keep the pace on the first laps, I even felt faster than the others. Once they got their bearings, I was too limited by the bike."

With a Honda that is slightly less advanced than the factory machines of Luca Marini and Joan Mir (the Spaniard was, however, absent from the Sprint following a fall on Friday), Zarco was able to keep up with his rivals during the 13 laps of the race on Saturday, which was useful to understand more significantly where the Honda is losing out to the Ducati, Aprilia and others.

"Between the morning and the afternoon, we were better, but between yesterday afternoon and this morning, it was less good. It's a track where the bike moves a lot, and it's not easy to control. I was quite happy with the start of the race, but it became very difficult after that. It's a complicated weekend; it's difficult to stay calm and tell yourself that you have to work as hard as possible, try to understand where you lose the most. I was able to see it a little better in the race, but there are areas where I struggle too much with the bike. I hope this information can help us move forward."

While he admits that these difficult moments will be useful in the perspective of the next seasons, Johann Zarco remains as true and wholehearted as ever, and admits that it is a difficult situation to manage: “What I can learn from these sensations can only help me grow. But at the moment, it's hard to accept not being able to fight with the others. I think the track was better this morning. In FP2, we had lost stability again and when we tried to regain it, we had a lot of vibrations for qualifying. There was neither. In the afternoon, it was quite decent, but I almost had to adopt two different styles, one at the start of the race and the other in the second half. Between the first five laps and the last seven, even if the tires are consistent, you have to change your style to adapt to all these movements. I'm learning, but it's difficult because I'm not performing well.”

Interview by Luca Bartolomeo, in Misano.

ALSO READ > Rear tire problem explains Fabio Quartararo's crash