Johann Zarco (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) welcomed a return to form at the Monster Energy Grand Prix České republiky after crossing the line seventh, equaling his best result since his podium in Jerez.
“I’m happy about the race, a good race, good pace, and we were able to fight at the beginning,” said an upbeat Zarco. “The soft rear tyre was a good choice, I’m happy for that, it helped me to fight at the beginning. Maybe I could have overtaken more riders at the beginning, but it was difficult. In the race I tried to do the best I can, and in the end for sure the tyre was getting used and it became a little bit more difficult, not because of the tyres just because we’re working on the bike to find the best feeling.”
The Frenchman had a positive opening start to the 2018 campaign with two second place finishes in the opening four rounds, however after crashing out of his home race at Le Mans, his form hasn’t been the same. Now though, it seems the double Moto2™ World Champion and his Tech 3 Yamaha team have turned a corner.
“Now we are coming back on good things, from the Saturday we are quite fast, not enough to be on the podium but I understood good things this weekend so, I'm pretty happy and when everything isn’t perfect I’m taking points and that’s the main thing at the moment.”
Zarco continues, “I think I’m close to the real race rider feeling, because maybe in the last races I was racing like a guy who is going to buy the bread every morning. Now I can ride the Yamaha well and answer yes, I’m happy.”
A happy Zarco is a fast Zarco and looking ahead, the 28-year-old was excited for the post-Czech GP test, as he and the team continue to try and find the best setup with the Austrian GP firmly on the horizon. “Monday’s test in the Czech Republic will be good for me, I don’t have anything specific to try on the bike to go up but as we know the bike is still good, so we will manage to use 100% of the bike and we can hope for a better result.”
Zarco ended the test as the second fastest rider, completing 71 valuable laps.