Buriram.- The Frenchman from Pramac made a brutal second part of the race, closing the distance with the headers lap by lap, but when Johann Zarco reached the height of Pecco Bagnaia he slowed down almost a second, not attacking the Italian, to make it easier for him to finish ahead and add three more points.
At the end of the race, Zarco explained the reasons for his decision not to attack Pecco.
“I like these conditions, I can be very fast, I expected to have this pace before the race, it could be a perfect scenario to win, but I lost a lot of time at the beginning and when the dry line was made is when I could attack better”, explained Zarco to sum up his race, in which he set the fastest lap.
“In these conditions, finishing the race is already a satisfaction. I wanted to win, but the beginning was difficult. The lane opened up six laps from the end and I couldn’t get to Miguel Oliveira.”
“But when I got to Pecco I saw that I couldn’t fight for the victory anymore and I could only do it for the podium, so I didn’t want to risk making a mistake that could harm Bagnaia, who is the man of the moment at Ducati. anyway, I am happy with my career”, he clarified.
“If I had caught Pecco two laps earlier, I could have tried it. I took the risk by overtaking Marc Márquez, but I didn’t want to do it with Pecco. If it dried up three laps earlier, I would have rubbed the Marseillaise.”
“If it had been another rider and not Pecco, I would have tried. Ducati doesn’t want to take away anyone’s chance to win, but for a podium I did the right thing.”
When asked to confirm that the intention was clearly to help Pecco, Zarco explained.
“We have been trying to have a bit of strategy for a few races, Ducati leaves us free to fight whenever it is for victory, but to fight for other positions we must be more calculating, and today those conditions have been met, in my opinion”, the boy from Canes made clear.
