Johann Zarco treated the fans to the scene of the day after heading out onto the gravel on his Ducati in full “off-road style” in the second free practice session. The French driver took to the gravel, crossed the entire track at 300km/h and rejoined as if nothing had happened.
“I freaked out a bit,” admitted Zarco, recalling how the scene unfolded: “I had just felt a little better on the bike, because the changes we made allowed me to ‘be a little quicker in the first corner.’
The French pilot acknowledges that he entered “a little late” and assured that, when you go at such speed, you cannot afford to “change trajectory even a single meter”.
“That’s why I fell into the gravel trap at 300 km/h, because if you’re riding, even one meter away at these speeds, it quickly becomes ten meters”, explains the Pramac rider and takes responsibility for the mistake : “It was just too far at the entrance of the corner. By the time I realized that, I was already aware that I wasn’t going to make it, so I had to go straight.”
“I was hoping the bike would be a bit more stable,” Zarco described. “Instead, [the Ducati] moved a lot. To stabilize it, I opened the throttle again. However, that didn’t work, so I jumped. I was afraid of falling, but [that move] worked.
Fortunately, Johann Zarco was alone in that area of the track since, riding at that speed, coming from the gravel, would have been -almost- impossible without causing an accident.
“It was a kind of spectacle, but it was not without its dangers” assumed the Frenchman. “When the bike starts to move so much, it’s very scary.”
After an event without consequences, the French driver finished in fourth place during the first day of free practice for the French Grand Prix, a day led by Enea Bastianini.
