Zarco Explains 'Surprising' Crash With Problem-Having Quartararo
Categories: MotoGP
Johann Zarco’s Dutch Grand Prix ended prematurely after he was unable to avoid the falling Fabio Quartararo. The Pramac Racing rider explains the incident.
After an already difficult weekend in Assen, Johann Zarco leaves the Netherlands with zero points. Picking the medium front tire, the Frenchman did not manage more than 13th place in the sprint on Saturday.
And bad luck kept following the Pramac rider around on race Sunday as well. After a mixed weekend and a change of set-up for the main race, he started the main event with optimism.
However, his race ended after just two of 26 laps when Fabio Quartararo crashed in turn 7 and took his fellow Frenchman with him.
“In turn 1 I tried to overtake Fabio, but without success. In turn 6 his bike moved a lot. Therefore, I wanted to take a lot of momentum in turn 7 to overtake him before the next turn.” For Zarco, the attempt turned out to be the worst decision of the weekend.
“However, Fabio then lost the front wheel and crashed. He was right in front of me and I was so close behind him that I couldn’t avoid his bike. That was a really fast crash.”
Apart from the spectators, the crash of the two Frenchmen surprised above all the participants themselves. “It surprised me that Fabio had such problems. I had a good feeling, however, the grip conditions were very bad for all the riders.”
For Sunday’s race, Zarco had his sights set on making up for the poor Dutch Grand Prix weekend so far. In the end, however, “the crash was in line with the general performance” on the last weekend before the summer break.
Not getting injured is all that matters
The Frenchman explains that it was important not to get injured. While Quartararo has one arm in a sling after the crash and had to have surgery on his injured big toe, Zarco got off lightly.
“I have to wait and see if my right hand will still get fat because I have pain in the area of my fingers. But apart from that, I’m fit.”
