Pramac Ducati rider Johann Zarco hopes his recent surgery can be a turning point in his 2021 MotoGP campaign, which risks petering out amid a bad run of form.
Zarco was second coming into MotoGP’s summer break, but is only 15th in points accrued over the five races since. He averaged 13.5 points per race before the break, compared to 3.8 after it.
The 31-year-old underwent surgery on his right arm on September 22, in the lead-up to this weekend’s Grand Prix of the Americas, having been struggling with arm pump in previous races.
“The arm after the surgery is recovering pretty well, I’m quite happy and surprised also [about] the way it can recover,” Zarco said. “Then the real test will be on the bike. I’m not doing anything too much special right now, because better wait the right day and push on it, but just with the feeling and the pain, this is really going well.”
While Zarco had been reluctant to blame the condition for his recent struggles, he now admits that the way the two races prior to COTA unfolded – as he slumped to 17th at Aragon and 12th at Misano – left him wondering whether it was having a bigger effect than he’d thought.
When asked by The Race whether he hoped the surgery could spark a resurgence in form, Zarco said: “I hope, yes, I hope.
“I’m not taking it as an excuse for my bad performance, but really the last two races, it was strange to miss something but something- it can be small but then it seems very big, or it’s big but then with a few small changes it can be much better.
“It was complicated, and I’ve been even wondering if, knowing these things on the arm, even if I want to fight the body didn’t want to give 100 percent of the capacity like the body went into security mode, and it was waiting [for the arm to be fixed].
“So, I have a little question mark on it, and I really try, even in my training at home, to feel this energy that I’m giving the real 100 percent, because I know that when I’m in the real 100 percent of the body, of the mind, normally results are coming good.
“So, yes, this was a physical problem that now is fixed, and it can be that with this fix other things will be fixed too.”
Martin’s brachialis problem
In the meantime, Zarco’s rookie team-mate Jorge Martin – who has overshadowed the Frenchman as of late, his rise corresponding with Zarco’s sudden decline – has gone into detail over a right arm issue of his own.
“I’ve been working on my arm because I feel some issues, we don’t know yet what is happening,” Martin said.
“I’ve been on the doctors also trying to figure out what I need to improve, and they don’t know still, so… I hope will be okay, I will try to save some energies during the weekend, so I can be fit for the race in a good way.”
The issue Martin is having is in the brachialis muscle, “close to the bicep”, and he believes it may be a knock-on effect of the heavy Portimao crash earlier this season that forced him into a spell on the sidelines.
“I don’t know why, I have a lot of pain during the change of direction. I’m struggling – I’m trying to keep pushing.
“Normally when I have a break like two weeks, like this race, it’s much better – but for example in Misano, after two races [back to back] and then the [two-day mid-week] test, it was really hard.”
Martin said it was not a problem affecting him in day-to-day life, but rather on the bike and then for a couple of days after a race weekend.
“Just we need to figure out why it’s happening and improve it, so I don’t have this problem,” he concluded.
