Zarco and Ducati are scared at the start of the second Austrian round

«I am very motivated by the success of Jorge (Martín), he confirms that this is one of the best bikes on the grid. The fact that he is this fast with so little experience must be an incentive for all Ducati riders to take a step forward, not just for me. This is how Johann Zarco, second in the MotoGP World Championship, spoke on Thursday, sixth in last Sunday’s race at the Red Bull Ring, and teammate in the Pramac Ducati team of the winner of that day, Jorge Martín, the Spanish rookie.

This Friday, the French driver exploded on the Austrian track in an unusual way: at the end of the first free practice, a usually scoring session, he mounted soft tires as if it were the fight for pole, and in a vertigo lap He lowered by 169 thousandths the record of the circuit established last Saturday by Martín, this one was in search of a good position on Sunday’s starting grid.

Zarco finished that training with almost eight tenths over the second, Joan Mir, and with nine compared to the third, Álex Rins. “To be honest, on Sunday when I saw the checkered flag I had a burden on me for not having done well enough, not like my teammate. Someone younger, a novice, had beaten me “, confessed the Frenchman, who also acknowledged that shortly after, already cold, he had been able to enjoy Martin’s triumph. “The record lap has come because the track conditions were very good, and we have also fulfilled our strategy. That is why I am very happy, but above all because in the afternoon it started to rain ».

And it is that, the rain, made the fastest times were those of the morning, in a training session in which Ducati again showed its strength in Austria, where it has won six of the seven races contested since the Central European country was He rejoined the calendar in 2016. And where he is looking for the seventh win. With Martín as a candidate after what was seen last Sunday, of course with Zarco after the exhibition this Friday, and on paper with the two official pilots of the Italian brand, Pecco Bagnaia, eighth on the first day, and Jack Miller, who it was only seventeenth.

Lecuona dominates

Both the Australian and the rest of the pilots who were left out of the top ten will need this Saturday’s morning session to be dry again, if they do not want the current result to be the definitive one that gives a direct pass to Q2. In addition to Zarco, Mir, Rins and Bagnaia, Takaaki Nakagami, Aleix Espargaró, Fabio Quartararo, Álex Márquez, Marc Márquez and Martín joined that group. “Today we have not looked at the times table, but we have tried things and in the afternoon in the water I could not finish testing everything we had,” explained Marc Márquez, who has decided to focus on improving his Honda, the most out of tune bike in 2021, while managing his physical recovery, which he says has not yet reached one hundred percent.

“This will make it more complicated for tomorrow, because we are working towards the future and for a rider it is difficult if each time the bike goes out on the track it is different. But tomorrow we are forced to risk a little, I will practically go out with two different bikes that I raced last weekend, because I have to try some things. And that will be the training that will qualify you for Q2. These tests can penalize you, but they are necessary, ”said Márquez.

In the afternoon, the one from Cervera was one of the most in tune with the wet track, although the prize of finishing first was taken with great solvency by Iker Lecuona, who risked more than the rest and pressed in the last minutes with dry tires, with the track still wet. Lecuona, who rolled more than three seconds faster than the second, was able to use this result as a vindication. And the fact is that the youngest MotoGP rider (he has turned 21 this year) hurries his options to continue in the category at this time, once he knows that in his current team, the French Tech3, Remy Gardner and Raúl Fernández, and that there are still two seats left in the Yamaha satellite team, a structure in which having young riders is a priority, which has made them set their eyes on Moto2.