A few hours after his success at the Grand Prix of France MotoGP, the Cannes native Johann Zarco reacted to his victory. The second of his career in the premier class.
It had been 71 years since the French public had awaited a victory from a French rider at home. This Sunday at the Bugatti circuit in Le Mans, the Cannes rider, Johann Zarco utilized the difficult weather conditions to claim victory.
At the finish, the LCR Honda rider seemed not to realize what he had just accomplished: “it’s incredible, I still do not understand what is happening. The last laps were very long… I am going to need a little bit of time, it’s magical. With the rain tires at the beginning, I had to control, I didn’t want to burn them. And then the rain came and it kept getting better. Marc (Marquez) was very fast but I managed to control the gap.”
Alone at the front, Johann Zarco lived a waking dream: “It’s magical. There was this tire choice. It was announced that it would rain… Cheering the audience one lap before the finish, I feel like it happens once in a lifetime and it’s today.”
With this success, Johann Zarco manages to maintain Honda’s record of consecutive successes, which was heavily threatened by Ducati. “Each time I tried to do everything to win the Grand Prix and now I win it but I get the feeling we had to wait. It’s quite bizarre,” explains Johann Zarco to the Canal + microphone, he who had to wait many years before achieving success in MotoGP. It was on October 21, 2023, in Australia after seven years in MotoGP, he who was a double Moto 2 world champion in title.
Fabio Quartararo: “we were talking this morning about how his mom was coming to a circuit for the first time”
Conversely, the Nice-native Fabio Quartararo had a weekend filled with highs and lows. In pole position, the Yamaha rider had great hopes under these conditions. “It was a very important start to the race. We knew we needed to push very, very hard. It was raining a bit more, I pushed a bit more on the tires and there you go… It was still a very positive weekend. The pole position and being able to lead the sprint and the race were incredible. Unfortunately, we had a crash today while fighting at the top.”
A fall that did not wipe the smile off his face in the press conference after the race when discussing the success of his friend Johann Zarco: “I’m happy for him (Johann Zarco) too. We were talking this morning about how his mom was coming to a circuit for the first time and he wins today in front of the French public. It must be a great emotion for him and his family. Really, congratulations.”
