The fall of Johann Zarco caused by a problem with the gearbox
"A little disappointed, of course, it's always better to save a few points than to finish on the ground," lamented the man who arrived in Portimão in first place in the championship. "We saw that I had a little problem with the gearbox, that's why I didn't have the right gear at the right time. The engine speed was critical. So I wasn't too much disappointed and it allows me to better understand the fall. "
The problem encountered by the Frenchman has already been seen at Pramac in the past, although the team does not yet know the exact cause: "When I downgraded my two gears [in the turn], I found myself in first so it is that I had not started well the fourth before. The team reassured me by telling me that I had put it well and that I had passed the previous turn in fourth, but with our seamless system, it may not have engaged properly. "
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"And when it was time to downshift, third had already come back, I made my automatic movement to downshift two gears and I finished first. Where I thought I had made a mistake beforehand, they reassured me in saying 'No, we haven't had this little problem with other pilots before' and we ran into it. A little bit of bad luck, but even in this bad luck, the analysis is that we were a little too limited. "
Zarco believes that this problem could have been caused by the very sustained pace of the race, which he had trouble keeping: "I was missing a few tenths today and I was perhaps pushing a little too much to stay. with the others. Maybe the gear shifts weren't as clean as they needed to be. I think that's one of the causes. "
The Cannois was also starting to have difficulties with the condition of his front rubber, a problem which he said contributed to the fall: "Since the front tire was not in very good condition on the right side, he did not I couldn't handle that and that's why I immediately fell. We didn't have this problem but maybe doing a lot of laps in 1'38 "9 is not easy."
"I think [the tire] got too hot, staying behind Mir," he said. "In my opinion, this pace below 1'40 forced me to pass a course in driving and we realized that we were probably a little limited up front. We would probably have needed other adjustments, maybe in the direction of Bagnaia. Technically, I'm not sure. My chief mechanic told me that we needed to make some progress to put less strain on the tire. Unfortunately, we didn't. had very good progress between Friday and Saturday and staying at that level was not enough for Sunday. A pace below 1'40 is pretty fast. "
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This race will not leave bad memories for Johann Zarco because even if he was a little too aggressive to compensate for his inability to keep up with the pace set by Fabio Quartararo, he still figured among the leaders once again. : "I attacked a lot and I think I was missing a few tenths today. I was not comfortable everywhere, so then I had to give a little more energy to compensate and the race is became more difficult. "
"Despite that, I was there, hoping to play the podium. It's positive. The advantage in the straight line remains important and I knew that I could make the difference on this climb in the straight line, and I took fun to enjoy it. [...] Rins and Fabio got away, it was a bit hard to stay with him. I expected to stay behind Pecco but I made the mistake almost immediately after his pass . "
In a weekend marked by several antics and by the serious injuries of his teammate Jorge Martín , Johann Zarco gets away without the slightest pain: "On the corner, I just slipped, and we are not going very fast , because we come in fourth, we had time to decelerate. I wouldn't say it's the 'standard fall' because you don't have to get used to it, but when we have fallen to 300 km / h, that's 'easy' [laughs]. "
