Zarco: “Shocking” to see level of riders - “no-one stopped” during winter
Pramac Ducati rider Zarco was seventh-fastest on Friday, the first of three days in Malaysia, and the first time MotoGP riders have been on track together this year.
Marco Bezzecchi was fastest while reigning champion Francesco Bagnaia was fifth, and Marc Marquez 12th, on a day that astonished Zarco.
“After the winter break, you come here and everyone is so fast! It seems that no-one has stopped! This is quite shocking,” the Frenchman said.
“The most shocking thing of the day? The level of the day, of all the riders.
“It becomes more impressive. A more [high-level] sport which is nice to see, and nice to live in.”
Zarco finished eighth in the 2022 MotoGP standings - in his seventh season in the premier class, he is hoping to finally register his first race victory.
He will once again have Jorge Martin as his teammate and the duo may profit from the latest spec Desmosedicis, knowing that the past three years have each resulted in a first-time MotoGP champion being crowned.
Zarco said about Pramac’s testing in Sepang: “The engine, confirmation that we get a better feeling. But clearly it’s not a huge difference, it doesn’t change the balance of the bike.
“It’s something more than feeling. It’s helping the engineer with aerodynamics.
“Mostly what we have considered most is fairing. We tested it in Valencia. Now it is the same, but it is [more] finalised than in Valencia.
“As we know, we were in good condition in 2022 with all the victories that Ducati got.
“But already in Valencia, we tested quite a few things, and the development was there. In the winter they were working on what we did in Valencia.”
James was a sports journalist at Sky Sports for a decade covering everything from American sports, to football, to F1.
