This weekend of world consecration for Marc Marquez, the drivers from the French Riviera did not shine during the various races of the weekend in Japan on the Motegi circuit.
For this 17th round of the season MotoGP, which saw Marc Marquez celebrating by winning a seventh world title, for the Azureans, the atmosphere was much less joyful. If Fabio Quartararo showed his talent by placing his Yamaha in 5th position on the starting grid, Johann Zarco had to settle for 11th position after qualifying.
At the start, Fabio Quartararo only lost one place and found himself in 6th. Conversely Johann Zarco found himself in the middle of a huge crash between the defending world champion and Marco Bezzecchi.
The Cannes driver found himself at the back of the grid in 18th position and ended up retiring two laps from the end: “on one hand I can say it’s bad luck because the start was good and I would have liked to fight and score some nice points, but on the other hand I’m lucky not to have crashed because it was frightening to see the bikes pass by. Martín did something a bit too crazy. I almost ran over him. I didn’t touch any bike, (…) so on one hand it was quite frightening and I’m lucky not to have crashed, but clearly I restarted last, Johann Zarco said after retiring. I managed to make a decent comeback in the first five or six laps but after that, behind Di Giannantonio it became more difficult. I told myself ‘either I crash or I pass him’ and I preferred to come in because being 15th anyway it was lost for the sprint race. »
As for Fabio Quartararo, the sprint was complicated. Struggling on long runs with significant tire degradation, the Nice driver was unable to avoid dropping down the standings. The Yamaha driver, approximately 0.5 seconds slower per lap compared to the leader, fought hard to keep his 6th place.
At the finish the verdict was bitter: “the conclusion is that we’re still very, very far off. I did my best, I made no mistakes, but you can see that our pace is quite slow compared to everyone. I must continue to give my best and I need to improve my riding style to be a better rider. We’re slow and you can see how much our bike is struggling. We can also see the other Yamahas so nothing more to add about today’s race »
Johann Zarco: “I gave everything until the end”
This Sunday, the Grand Prix started much better for the Maralpins. Fabio Quartararo managed to gain two positions with a very aggressive braking at the first corner. But severely lacking pace, “El Diablo” was going to have a difficult race! Already left behind by the three leaders after the first lap, the tricolor driver kept dropping back in the standings. The Nice driver uncomfortable with his medium tire loses five positions in the second lap. He ends up just ahead of Johann Zarco who moved up to 10th place but far from the pace of the drivers ahead of him. Even though he seemed more comfortable than his compatriot, the Cannes driver never managed to find an opening. The two French drivers ultimately finish in 8th and 9th positions of the Grand Prix.
After the race, Johann Zarco reflected on this ultimately uneventful Grand Prix: “I’m happy. The start was quite good but starting 11th, at the first corner you can’t go inside or outside, so you get stuck. After that, I didn’t have enough confidence yet to overtake braking at turn 3, but I managed to hold my position and make some nice passes. It’s a sign: yesterday I wasn’t capable of doing it. » Then the Cannes driver spoke about his battle with Fabio Quartararo on Canal +: “I tried to stay close to take advantage of any tire degradation, but our tires degraded at the same time. I gave everything until the end, but I couldn’t attack him. »
While the overall result is not exceptional, not everything should be thrown away either. The two French drivers will have the opportunity to do better next week in Indonesia.
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