Johann Zarco: “Sorry for Pecco, I thought Quartararo had a technical problem...”

Johann Zarco has explained the circumstances behind his opening lap clash with Francesco Bagnaia, which sent the factory Ducati star out of the Valencia MotoGP season finale.

Fabio Quartararo, starting from sixth, struggled with a clutch issue off the line, then was unable to disengage his front holeshot device.

Bagnaia, who had made a storming start from 14th on the grid, was already ahead of the Yamaha rider when Zarco - believing Quartararo might have a permanent issue - dived inside his compatriot on entry to Turn 4.

The LCR Honda rider made the pass but, in his haste, couldn’t make the corner. After dodging Brad Binder, Zarco hit the side of Bagnaia’s factory Ducati.

Bagnaia crashed in the gravel, ending his season, while Zarco was given a long lap penalty.

“Super sorry for Pecco,” Zarco said on Sunday evening.

“I saw Quartararo struggling with the fork [holeshot] lock and because he could not unlock on the first corner and second corner, I thought that he has a [permanent] technical problem.

“So the target was to overtake Fabio as quickly as possible, to avoid losing time behind him, because if he keeps the fork locked for the whole lap, then I will lose time, and it's not easy to overtake.

“Then on this changing direction under braking, I decided to overtake him, but in the moment I made the move, it was so hard to slow down the bike and avoid Brad Binder.

“Because if I tried to go into Turn 4, I would have hit Brad Binder. So I avoided Brad, but the way I had to avoid him, I went wide and I crossed the line of Pecco.

“The hit was kind of strong. I'm sorry he could not race today, and I was expecting to get a penalty - even if the first idea was to avoid Brad, but for sure I made another rider crash.”

Zarco dropped to 21st after the incident and penalty, but recovered to twelfth place, passing HRC’s Joan Mir on the final lap.

“After the long lap, I was kind of last, and I just took it easy, tried to be constant, but without burning the tyre,” Zarco said.

“I lost time behind Rins, because I had good pace, but staying close to another rider to overtake him is a weak point for me.

“But in the last five laps, I was getting better than the others with used tyres, and I was happy to catch Mir. I knew with his style that he was asking a lot to the rear tyre, so I could adjust and get the 12th position.”

"Congrats to Marini" - Honda moves from D to C concessions

Five places ahead was Mir’s team-mate Luca Marini, who gave Honda the seventh-place finish needed to move up a concessions class from D to C.

“Today the target was to be in the top 10, and I said that if we can catch the 7th position, it would be very good, because this was the target of Honda to get the 9 points.

“It's good that at least one of the Honda riders did it, and very congrats to Marini, because starting from 13th - yesterday he did an amazing start, and today he did an amazing start again.

“So he did well, and he caught these points for Honda, which is good.

“I’m happy to finish the season seeing the chequered flag, happy to finish the season without any injuries.

“On Tuesday, we will test with the new bike, and try many things, but to develop what I want on the bike, this will be in Malaysia [next February].

“I hope I will find the solution with my team, because the bike is getting more and more competitive, and if I can extract the good things of my riding style, then we will have the chance to get [more] podiums next year.”

Le Mans winner Zarco finished the season as Honda’s top rider, by six points over Marini, for twelfth in the world championship.