Zarco’s qualifying ended with a torn suit and a smile on his face. Fortunately, after a time that earned him a pole position at the Sachsenring, the Frenchman of the Pramac team fell into the gravel trap without any consequences. The yellow flags for his and Nakagami’s crash did the rest, preventing the other riders from improving.
“It took me some time to calm down with all the adrenaline in my body“, Johann smiled. “I couldn’t make good use of the first tire, but I did it with the second. Then I tried to give a little more in another round. I leaned in too hard at turn five and the front closed. Fortunately, it was just a slip up. I was really excited. The Sachsenring is a difficult track for me and even Ducati didn’t have the best statistics here, but the potential is great and I hope to put some surprises aside tomorrow as well.”
In qualifying, however, some drivers complained about those slowing down along the track to wait for a good slipstream.
“Having a good reference always helps, especially when a tenth less can be worth five positions,” Zarco admitted. “I need it too. Without her, I would not have taken pole today, even if it hadn’t been very close. It’s true that we saw some drivers waiting in the last two corners today and it was a bit strange, but it also happened because this is a very short distance. It is important that there are no accidents. We have to be able to create without risk.”
Aside from the slipstream, the Frenchman will start tomorrow with his Ducati in front of everyone, but he knows that it will be much more difficult in the race than in qualifying.
“At the moment it is very optimistic to think of a win,” he explained. “The biggest question is about my pace. From yesterday until this morning I made progress. But I was only first in FP4 because I fitted a new tire at the end of the session. I’ve struggled with the worn one. I hope that I can improve again tomorrow. It will be difficult for everyone and I think starting from pole will help me manage the tires because you lean to the left for a long time and when the tires overheat it becomes difficult to control the bike. “
Johann doesn’t rule out surprises.
“It is normal when all the drivers are so close together,” was his opinion. “Predicting is difficult but I think Quartararo was not wrong when he said yesterday that Marquez will be ahead in the race. “
Meanwhile, France is enjoying its two jewels: tomorrow in front of everyone on the grid, but also in the overall standings.
“Two French frontrunners can make the young generation dream, but we have to go on like this, otherwise they will quickly forget everything,“Johann said:” The Federation has to make the most of this moment. It would be nice to have an academy like Valentino’s in France. “