MotoGP Germany J0 Debriefing Johann Zarco: “It’s positive for us not to have Marc this weekend”, etc. (Integrity) – Paddock GP

Johann Zarco : “nothing in particular to say before the Sachsenring. Last year, I have good memories with pole position. The race had been interesting, but I hadn’t been able to do a very good race, as if we were missing something, and that was a shame. I have more this feeling of wanting to make up for this kind of mistake from last year. It was a kind of strategy that we had established with the team, and which had not worked very well.
Then, it’s a special circuit! It’s positive for us not to have Marc this weekend, clearly, it’s one more place to grab on the podium, and maybe make history by taking the victory after him (laughs)! These are my first thoughts before starting the race weekend.
Now I know my bike better and better, we were able to see it in Barcelona, ​​where I was able to try different things. I’m pretty quick with different settings, so that means I’m getting more and more comfortable with the bike. I really hope that here we will work even better. »

Were you able to analyze with your team why the hard tire did not give you an advantage at the end of the race in Barcelona?
” Yes. I was really hoping to have an advantage at the halfway mark, or even in the last five laps. What we could see was that by just following the pace of the first guys, I was asking too much of that rear tire. As it lacked grip on the sidewall, I had to slide a lot, not skate too much, but slide a lot to keep up with the others, and I burned my tire more than expected. But I couldn’t give up and wait. So it’s positive that I was the only one to do a decent race with the hard rear tyre, but I didn’t have the advantage that we could have had. »

Isn’t it because the race was faster than last year?
“No, I think the pace was slower than what we had last year. We knew it would be more or less around 40, and during testing I think I was able to do a little 40, so we really believed it was going to work. Maybe the race conditions were a bit different, but we also didn’t expect the medium to work so well for the others, so we had like a change between Saturday and Sunday. »

Apart from the departure of Jack Miller for KTM, there is still no news regarding the future at Ducati?
“I think we are well in line at Ducati, and there is also this situation with Bastianini, Martin, and I am there too! I think Ducati has a choice and they are in no hurry to make the right choice, also because taking someone into a factory team is something important: it would be easier to just look at the results but that is too big a builder to judge on that alone. They also have to take a lot of other things into account. Personally, I am very well with Pramac and, yes, this should continue. We will see that there is one more place. If I win the next three races, or both before the break, then maybe I’ll give the factory a problem, who would say ‘Ah, another one! (Laughs). »

Are you going to use parts tested in Barcelona here?
“I haven’t spoken with my mechanics and technicians yet to see and find out if we’re going to use anything from the Barcelona test, but the base of the bike and its potential are still very high. What we tried was interesting, so I have to see, but I think I will have a bike that is technically more similar to the one I used during the race weekend than the one I used in the test. »

What do you think of Jack Miller’s move to KTM?
“At KTM, I had a tough experience two years ago, then I was very impressed with the change made in 2020: they made a winning bike! Also last year, in four races, Oliveira scored 80 points. This year they struggle a lot more than last season, and these ups and downs of KTM is something special, and maybe at Ducati we have a little more consistency. We have a lot of bikes now but we’ve proven, or Ducati has proven, that they can have great consistency.
As for Jack going there, it’s a challenge anyway! »