He would've liked to have done more, but Johann Zarco collected only a paltry 17th position at the Sachsenring on Sunday, like he did in the Sprint Race the day before. So, his hope to go on vacation with some kind of sign of recovery was in vain.
"I'm sad and bitter that I missed the points zone," he said. "I was close to Jack Miller's and Augusto Fernandez's group, and I really wanted to bring something home because that was my goal, but I lost too much time at the beginning of the race. Even if I got off to a better start than on Saturday, I lost a few tenths in the first corner, and it wasn't easy to recuperate. The only positive thing was that I was then able to manage the rear tire well. I felt I had a good advantage but, unfortunately, Nakagami closed the door on me, and he was able to overtake Marini. So, even if I was close, I wasn't close enough."
The French rider is also concerned about the lack of continuity in the performance of his bike. "Like I said, the sensations were better than Saturday, also thanks to the slightly lower temperature. They, however, served mostly for the performance of the front, while it didn't increase the grip on the rear. Since this is a short track, we finished not too far behind the others, but we're still actually not very competitive to be able to aspire for the top ten. I'm very much hoping for an update that will allow us to really progress. Right now, I'm working on myself and, this weekend, I tried to make the most of the RC213V's strengths."
"We had made some progressed some during the German weekend, but then we went backwards. On Saturday morning, we lost time because we couldn't find the solution, and that's why I wasn't able to get to at least a fifteenth place in the GP," he explained, before dedicating a thought to Lucio Cecchinello who, like the riders, is suffering from a lack of results.
"It's not easy for him either, but he's super professional," he said. "Like me, he hopes for something more and wants to give Honda confidence, because he knows what they're capable of. But, when he hears our comments and sees the sadness in our eyes, it's hard, as is motivating the sponsors to believe in the project."