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Zarco’s pole position in Le Mans cannot help but embarrass the factory Yamaha team which by now, much to its regret, has become accustomed to being compared with the Frenchman. And then, when you think that Viñales was 6 tenths behind Johann and Valentino more than 7, the picture becomes even more grim. While they are celebrating in the Tech3 camp, in the blue garage the data and numbers are being crunched to find a solution to the problem.
“I don’t know how Johann is so fast. I just know that he’s faster than us - Valentino tries to defuse the tension, but he doesn’t feel much like smiling - Today he was fast, but he did the same thing in recent races too. He rides very well and has a good pace.”
What is your level, on the other hand?
“My pace is nothing special, but it isn’t that bad either. To be honest, I expected better from the qualifiers because both yesterday and this morning I had been rather fast.”
What happened?
“I made a couple of mistakes. I think that if I had not made them I could have been a couple of tenths faster. No more.”
Can you hope for something better for the race?
“There are a lot of riders with a similar pace, but there are also some who are faster than us. I could be wrong to make certain predictions, but at the moment, Marquez, Dovizioso and Zarco seem like the ones who will be able to make a play for the win.”
Who do you think your direct rivals will be?
“Iannone, Lorenzo, Viñales, Miller - we are part of the second group, but we are not far off. We still have the warm up session to work. Tomorrow is another day and maybe things could change.”
Could having a look at Zarco’s data help?
“We’ll need to look at all aspects to improve. It seems like Zarco wears the tyres less. He is able to go faster lap after lap, whereas I begin to struggle.”
Are you at the limit right now?
“Here in Le Mans we had started off well, but our rivals managed to pull out something extra when it was needed. In qualifying, they took a step forward, but we did not.”
