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The Sprint Race of the Spanish GP did not go according to plan for Johann Zarco, who at Jerez failed to repeat the fine performance he produced in Qatar. Starting from the tenth slot on the grid, Zarco was right behind the top ten positions when he ended his race with a crash, which obviously left him with some disappointment.
"I'm disappointed, that's normal, but today my feeling didn't improve compared to yesterday. It was good to set 10th position in qualifying, although my comments were not positive," Johann explained at the end of the day, recounting the difficulties encountered in the first race of the weekend.
"For the race we decided to opt for the medium rear because we were too scared of the vibrations with the soft. We expected to struggle a bit at the beginning, but then I should have been able to be consistent even in the heat. Instead, I couldn't use the tire in the right way because I didn't have a good feeling with the bike. We hit our heads against a wall today and it's hard, but I hope tomorrow we will find a solution to improve my feeling and have a chance to fight. Because today I felt I couldn't do more, and in the race we saw that I fell after battling a little bit," he added, "What I felt was the limit before I crashed wasn't just in my head, because it really happened. It's a shame, because I was expecting to struggle a little bit, but then to have good feelings and make progress that we didn't make at the moment. We will have to figure out why and take some time to discuss it this evening."
The two-time Moto2 champion still cannot say for sure what prevented him from finding the sensations he would have expected. "I don't know why. I can complain like other riders do and say that the problem is that I lack grip in the rear. Maybe that is the only problem and we haven't solved it yet. I can make it simple if you want: we are in Jerez, there is no grip at the rear, I am complaining," he commented.
Continuing his analysis, Zarco explained why he was so surprised that his feeling had not improved compared to Friday: "Yesterday I followed Bagnaia and I don't remember if I also did some laps behind Marc Marquez, the fact is that it was very positive on Friday to be behind Pecco, because I was able to understand some things. So I would have expected to keep improving from that point on and be in the same situation as Qatar. Instead, I took a step back this Saturday and that's why everything became more difficult for me today and I wasn't ready for the race. The soft rear tire could have helped a little bit but I don't think so because this morning I struggled with both the soft and the medium."
Having ridden a Ducati for so many years, it shouldn't have been difficult for the 34-year-old to glean a few secrets from the Rossa and understand how it has changed from when he rode it.
"One thing I've noticed is that the Ducati improved a lot in maximum lean last year when the new tires were introduced. Jorge Martin also said this last year. I saw this difference, and now that I have gotten used to my bike, I can understand Pecco's strength. I think we all need to take it as an example, because it works," he noted, "It's not that there are no secrets for me, but I think I can use my experience to see some things. The comment I made on Friday for today, however, did not work. So, I will have to figure out if I did something wrong."
