Zarco: Controlling the rear spinning was too much, I could not fight

Johann Zarco lost further ground to championship leader Fabio Quartararo at the Styrian MotoGP after rear tyre spinning became too much. 

So much so that the Frenchman lost positions to Takaaki Nakagami and Brad Binder on the final lap. 

At mid-race distance Zarco was the fastest rider on track, but after failing to get past Quartararo, the Pramac rider began to struggle with the performance of his soft tyre. 

Zarco was unable to be as ‘flowing and controlling’ as he wished, before the last four laps saw a considerable drop off. 

"It was a nice race overall for me with the second start. The first start has been a bit tricky and I missed it. I got the chance to have a second start, I did much better and I was feeling better to fight with the guys," added Zarco.  

"I got a good pace at the beginning, but fighting against Fabio [Quartararo] is always pretty difficult because he’s a guy braking so late. So even if you have the engine to overtake him, then he’s braking harder than you. 

"I think in this moment of the race - the beginning - I’ve lost a little bit of time because with the soft rear tyre I got the chance to maybe have the same pace as Jorge Martin and Joan Mir, but I was fighting. 

"Then, step-by-step I began to lose a little bit of time and it started to be a bit difficult. I saw Jack [Miller] crash and then I didn’t want to make any mistakes. I thought I could catch Fabio but he was more flowing than me and controlling better. 

"In the last four laps and especially the last two laps, controlling the spinning was too much for me and Nakagami and Binder caught me too easily. When they overtook me I wanted to fight but I could not."

The second of two rounds at the Red Bull Ring continues this weekend - one that Zarco will surely need to go better at - ideally beat Quartararo if he’s to challenge the Yamaha man for the title given the Ducati’s strengths at this circuit.