Johann Zarco reckons that Ducati “can hope to fight for podiums” at the upcoming Sachsenring and Assen tracks that don’t traditionally suit the Desmosedici.
Ducati has only scored a sole rostrum across both the German and Dutch venues in dry conditions across the past decade, Danilo Petrucci-then riding for the Pramac squad- pushing Valentino Rossi to the Italian’s so-far last MotoGP win on his way to second in the 2017 Dutch TT.
Zarco thinks though that Ducati’s machine is now versatile enough to be able to competitive at circuits it has struggled to make an impression at in the recent past, leaving the Pramac man hopeful he can inflict further damage on Fabio Quartararo’s points lead in the final two contests prior to the summer break.
“The strength of the Ducati at the moment is being able to go fast with different riders on it, we’ve had two races where the bike is strong and where we maybe expected to win races, and even though we didn’t get it (win) we got good points,” explained Zarco.
“We now move to different tracks but even at these races because the Ducati is going well everywhere we can hope to fight for podiums there also.”
The Frenchman scored his fourth runners-up result of the year in the Catalan Grand Prix on Sunday as he narrowed his countryman’s series lead to just 14 points, Zarco coming just 0.175s away from finally claiming his elusive maiden premier class victory.
He insists that he is “not worried” about still lacking a MotoGP victory on his CV, saying that “20 points is enough for today.”
“The race was very interesting as I could overtake many guys which is good for the confidence, it’s always hard to be consistent throughout the race and manage the tyres but I had much better control than I had yesterday, so I’m enjoying it and just trying to take it easy at the moment,” continued Zarco.
“The start was not bad but then I was losing time on the brakes, you don’t want to make any mistakes but the guys behind knew they could take advantage and I didn’t want to make a mistake.
“But then when the others in front started to go faster I could into my rhythm, though for this reason I lost time and also with Jack (Miller), he was riding really well but in that moment struggling a bit so Miguel (Oliviera), Fabio (Quartararo) and Joan (Mir) could get an advantage.
“After this rather than control my tyres I had to push to try and catch them.
“I’m not worried about the victory because 20 points is enough for today, the weekend was nice so I’m pretty happy.”
