Johann Zarco reckons being able to “analyse” the opening segment of qualifying at Portimao helped him “find the confidence” to fly to a first pole of 2022.
The Pramac Ducati rider read the tricky, ever-drying conditions seen during qualifying for the Portuguese Grand Prix perfectly to post his final effort in the pole shootout when the track was in the best possible shape at the end, an effort that saw him score pole by 0.195s over Suzuki’s Joan Mir.
The Frenchman has traditionally struggled when faced with uncertain grip levels, Zarco admitting that he “didn’t expect” to challenge for pole having seen the state of the track during the opening part of qualifying.
“I’m pretty happy, I didn’t expect to get the pole position with the slick tyres here in Portimao,” said Zarco.
“Overall in tricky conditions and with wet patches I’m used to keeping some margin, and therefore I normally struggle (for pace) in those conditions.
“Today though everything was working well and for sure I was happy to go straight through to Q2, and definitely the most difficult session was Q1 and I could analyse the condition and then use the full 15 minutes of Q2 to lap after lap find the confidence.
“Then on the last lap everything worked just perfectly, so it’s great because I did not expect it.”
Zarco added that he was grateful to be able to have been able to run the full 15-minute Q2 session on slicks without pitting in order to gather information in case the race takes place in the dry, with all four practice sessions prior to qualifying having taken place in full-wet conditions.
The two-time Moto2 world champion also reckons that he can use experience garnered from last October’s Algarve GP at the same venue to help him build “a good plan” to try and score his maiden premier class race win in his 89th MotoGP start.
“Pole position is always good to get an advantage at the beginning of the race, and also to build up confidence for the race knowing you are fast enough so we’ll have to wait and see what the conditions will be like tomorrow in order to adapt the bike and my riding style as well as possible,” continued Zarco.
“It was important to ride the full 15 minutes during qualifying (with lack of dry running), we know more or less which tyre can be good but because we couldn’t put much rubber down on the track we don’t know how it will go.
“For sure though the experience from last October (Algarve Grand Prix) will be important, and from that I think we can build a good plan.”
