So far in his MotoGP career, Pramac Ducati rider Johann Zarco has lined up on pole position seven times – but so far, each one has been something of a curse rather than a success story, with only one of these starts so far translating into a podium at Brno in 2020, when he finished third.
But with another P1 start for the Portuguese Grand Prix at the Portimao circuit, he’s perhaps the best situated that he’s been so far to capitalise on his starting spot.
A tumultuous weekend of weather so far at the Algarve circuit may well play into the hands of one of the series’ more experienced riders.
With torrential rain on and off throughout practice and the only real chance for dry track time coming in Saturday afternoon’s qualifying session, riders were left to take a gamble not just to secure a laptime but to set up their bikes for the dry conditions forecast for Sunday’s 25-lap race.
Emerging on top from the ensuing dogfight in qualifying not just with the fastest time but also with a pace that looks quite competitive for when the lights go out, Zarco is keen not to get too excited yet – but nonetheless sounded upbeat about his potential for the race even if set-up will be something of an unknown.
“It should be dry tomorrow,” the Frenchman said of the weather forecast, “and we have the experience of last October, getting almost the same tyres. Let’s see what the temperature of the track is, if we have the same wind as today.
“In qualifying, it was easy to choose the soft-soft [front and rear] because the track was not in the best conditions, but if we have a dry Moto3 race tomorrow and straight into MotoGP it’ll be difficult to say. Maybe we’ll have a few answers after warm-up.”
In fact, so open was the weekend that Zarco also admitted after qualifying that despite being happy with how he had performed in the wet conditions on Friday and Saturday morning, he had surprised himself with just how fast he was in the dry as well in the afternoon.
He’s struggled so far in 2022 (not umlike the other four factory-spec Ducati riders) to take the best from the Italian factory’s new and significantly updated Desmosedici, and it’s the first time that he’s been a frontrunner in the dry this year – something he didn’t expect.
“The feeling is improving, clearly,” he said of his performances, “and I like the rain conditions because I’m quite competitive. I feel like I’ve got much progress to make and it’s harder to find this margin in the dry because we have to push much more. That’s why I’m pretty surprised to be competitive during qualifying.
“I was really focused to ride the bike as well as possible and I could see the laptime coming good, always staying with the top three, top five. I could really give the extra for the last lap. It means I could ride the bike well and it’s good information to really analyse this evening.”
But while that data might be helpful in making sure they can retain their competitive edge in Sunday’s race – and while all three previous MotoGP race winners at Portimao might have done it from pole position – Zarco says there are still too many unknowns to confidently predict exactly what will happen just yet.
“Pole for me doesn’t mean victory for the next day,” he laughed, “but it helps to build up some confidence. It’s an advantage for the start, to stay with the good group immediately and not have to lose too much time when people overtake you or you have to overtake them. That’s an advantage that I need to use.
“The most important is that I could find some speed during the 15 minutes [of warm-up on Sunday], and I will try to keep pushing in that way tomorrow. I’m more happy with the pole because of all this confidence that I can build than just the statistic.”
