LCR ‘assumes responsibility’ for Johann Zarco’s German MotoGP crash

LCR Honda has taken responsibility for Johann Zarco’s crash from sixth place in Sunday’s German MotoGP, citing abnormal tyre temperature as the primary cause.

Zarco, who started from the front row following a standout performance in Saturday’s wet qualifying, lost control at Turn 1 on lap 18 of 30 - moments after Fabio di Giannantonio crashed out of second place at the same corner.

“Unfortunately, the front tyre didn’t reach the right temperature, and I went down,” Zarco said.

“It’s a shame, because this weekend we had the feeling back and the potential to do a good job.”

A post-race statement from LCR confirmed:

“LCR assumes responsibility, as after checking the data, it seems the tyre temperature was not optimal.

“The team will now analyse the incident thoroughly to extract as much feedback as possible.”

Zarco later revealed that his front tyre had dropped well below it’s critical working range.

“Normally I’m between 80–90 degrees, but in this race it was less than 70 - and that’s why I crashed,” he said.

“I should have let Quartararo pass”

With hindsight, the Frenchman believes the incident could have been avoided by letting countryman Fabio Quartararo pass, then sitting in his slipstream to regain tyre temperature.

“I didn’t want to wait for Quartararo, which would have been the best solution,” Zarco admitted.

“I could not get the pressure back up by myself, or the temperature, in these kinds of conditions.

“So it is better to wait and restart your race behind someone. You will always lose less by doing that than finishing the race and getting the [a low pressure] penalty.”

Zarco added that the team expected him to be behind other riders throughout the race, but “even alone, we were not expecting to lose that much; we should have been in the range.”

Cooler temperatures during the race were a factor.

“I think many of the crashes today were because of this temperature dropping. During the race it was not so warm," he said.

Zarco avoids yellow flag penalty

Fortunately for Zarco, he avoided any post-race sanction from the FIM Stewards, despite falling under the yellow flags shown for di Giannantonio’s crash.

“The crash was not because I pushed [too hard],” he explained.

“Seeing the yellow flag, everything was under control, but then in the downhill, leaning the bike... crash.

“Fortunately, I did not get any penalty because the crash was not exactly in the same place as the yellow flag.

“So no double long lap for Brno, which is so important, otherwise I would start the Czech Republic already losing the race.”

Zarco had already encountered similar issues with tyre temperature - on the rear - in Saturday’s Sprint, held in wet conditions.

He now heads for the Czech Grand Prix at Brno, where Takaaki Nakagami will replace the injured Somkiat Chantra on the second LCR machine.