After two consecutive rounds without scoring, Johann Zarco returned to the points in the French MotoGP Grand Prix. To do so, he finished the main race at Le Mans in 12th place, even being the best Honda rider.
The Frenchman from LCR Honda mentioned that, although he did not have the performance he expected, he gladly accepts the four points he scored: ‘When you get four points, you see this as positive, the first goal is to finish the race and get these points, to take advantage of the opportunity if other riders fall or have technical problems. I expected to be a few tenths better than on Saturday, so it would be easier to ride in the low 1m32s and maybe in the high 1m31s, but I couldn’t do it in the race. It seems it was a bit harder than on Saturday‘.
Zarco talked about the approach the team has at the moment, which continues to be tough: ‘It’s difficult, because we really try to work as if we were fighting for the podium or for the victory, enjoying doing precise things and the feeling of improving by a few tenths. Because we know we are still not competitive, so we accept it and try to keep working as if we could fight for the podium, to maintain those feelings‘.
The rider also said: ‘This race was long for me. [Joan] Mir did a good job, because he is always very good in the long race and seems to have held his pace very well – this pace that I wanted in the low 1m32s. But he had the fall‘.
