Zarco in “dream” championship position with Jerez podium

Johann Zarco says he’s happy to keep “dreaming” in the MotoGP world championship title fight after jumping up to second place with his podium at Jerez.

The Monster Yamaha Tech3 rider started the race weekend with huge media attention after his move to KTM for 2019 was confirmed despite rumoured interest from both Repsol Honda and Suzuki.

After qualifying on the front row at Jerez as the lead Yamaha rider, Zarco followed it up with second place following the dramatic exit of Ducati pair Andrea Dovizioso and Jorge Lorenzo along with Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa ahead of him on track.

With Zarco jumping from fifth to second he was pleased to take up the opportunity, while still feeling he had the race pace to catch-up the three in front of him before their crash, and relished his second podium in the opening four races to move up to second in the MotoGP riders’ standings.

“We are second now in the position in the championship,” Zarco said. “Much better than what we expect at the beginning of the year. It’s where I want to fight and I’m so happy to be there. Like a dream especially before the French GP it’s so good.

“It means we will have even more fans pushing us giving positive energy. The track is normally quite good for the Yamaha, so I will try to do the right things in the right moment and be competitive for dream about victory.

“While in fifth position and trying to catch the first group, I mean the group for the podium because Marc was already going away, I thought it was possible. I was doing the best to find the pace and catch them. But I got this chance.

“Pretty happy that all the weekend I was quite competitive. When you can manage a weekend like that and then the chance came to you I was there to catch it.”

While Zarco is wary of making predictions for the rest of the MotoGP campaign he is already sizing up the chance to continue his title charge at his home race next time out at Le Mans having stormed to the front on the opening lap 12 months ago before taking an impressive second place after Valentino Rossi crashed out on the final lap.

“I think Rossi and Vinales should be there fighting for the podium and the victory [in Le Mans],” he said. “We cannot say going to be the same race than last year because of the crash Marc had last year. I think he will not repeat it.

“Now with the advantage he has at the moment he can control well the race also. So let’s see what happens. I know that if I can do the good job on the bike I can be there. Then catching podiums and if I can stay constant in the podium and always fight, do my best and trust about the victory, yes, maybe I can be the first Yamaha, but I don’t know.

“Last year I had great beginning of season, then I had problems and I had good end of the season. If I can keep fighting for the championship and think about the title, even if I finished second, I think in my position I will be pretty happy.”