Zarco: Title fight? It would be 'best present of my life'

Johann Zarco finished his rookie MotoGP season 0.337s from what would have been not only his first premier-class victory, but the first ever for a satellite Yamaha in the four-stroke era.

The Frenchman's aim is now to carry that momentum into the 2018 season, which starts with the official testing at Sepang on Sunday, as he pursues his long-term target of a factory ride and title challenge.

"I don't feel more pressure, and I'm happy that people expect me at the top," said Zarco, speaking in a sweltering Sepang paddock on Saturday.

"For sure, the way I finished the last races, the wish for this year is to start at the same pace of last year and it means I will be able to fight for the win from the beginning and that can be fantastic for all the championship."

Told that he was on a shortlist of riders that factory star Valentino Rossi said could win races and even the championship, the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 rider - who has enjoyed two strong tests on what Rossi and Maverick Vinales found to be a troubled 2017 M1 - replied:

"It would be fantastic! It means that the 2017 bike is working really well. But I believe that the way they were working on this bike last year was to have better potential at the end of the race.

"And the way I was using the 2016 bike, for us, with our technical staff, we think we have more potential to finish the race well. Maybe not to do the lap record, but we can see that many times that the one who is winning the race is not the rider who is doing the lap record for just one lap.

"So if Valentino says I can fight for the championship just makes me smile, like last year when he was speaking about me. He's still the idol, so I'm really happy. And with the experience of my two titles in Moto2, I must keep this in my mind. Why not? We will see.

"We need to take it easy and enjoy most of all, but I think the Yamaha, what I was feeling even on the private test [here in November] - we didn't have great conditions, but the bike gave you the confidence which I never had in other bikes before."

Zarco has spent the winter training heavily on a Supermoto bike, around the tight confines of a karting track, and even saw his defeat to dirt track stars in December's Superprestigio as a positive lesion.

"It was a good winter. I decided to do the Superprestigio to have some more training and don't have too long a break. So this has been a very good thing," he explained.

"It's never easy, a totally different category, but technically it's a good training and also for your mind, because you think you are a good rider, but so many riders are beating you that you get nervous and the work is to stay calm in any situation. So that was the good thing.

"I had a break for Christmas and New Year, then at the beginning of January I got back on the Supermoto. Supermoto for me, and all last year also, is really my kind of training where I can see with my coach if I am in good balance, if I am fast, if I can be consistent with the lap time.

"Because we are using slick tires, we are using Michelin tyres, we are working really well. And the Supermoto on a go-kart track is kind of MotoGP, because 450cc for a track of only 1 kilometer, you have a lot of acceleration. So some training like that at the beginning of January to feel ready here in Malaysia.

"I did also physical training as normal and like I was doing last year, I tried to stay far away from all the comments about the [2017] bike I am going to use this year and the decision I'm taking since November.

"The feeling I have on the bike is great, and the target of the training at the beginning of this month is to be back with the good feeling I had last November; jump on the bike and say the same comments.

"So we're going to see tomorrow and the next three days, but keep this free and easy mind to do the best."

It is already rumoured that Zarco is a target for the factory KTM team in 2019, but they may need to join a queue for the Frenchman's services if he can build on last year's heroics.

"Already last year I was telling people that the target is to have a factory bike, because it's an important step as a rider, and also to fight for a championship," Zarco said. "Maybe I can fight for a championship this year, that would be like the best present of my life if I can already fight this year.

"But all the support a factory team can bring is a big step better. So I hope the results this year will make me deserve this factory team. I don't know where. The first target can be the Yamaha, because if I'm feeling good on the Yamaha. Then if the other riders sign, it can be more complicated. It's quite early to think."

But while Zarco is riding the crest of a wave ahead of his second premier-class season, the other side of the garage has been thrown into turmoil by the new of Jonas Folger's withdraw.

"It's a shame. He's my teammate, we have been also together since the beginning in the world championship, and even a little bit before when he was in the MotoGP Academy and me too a little bit.

"Then when I was Moto2 champion in 2015, he was on the podium with me, and again in 2016. So he's a fast team-mate, and we were hoping he would come back. It's really strange that he cannot.

"We can take some positives, it can be worse, we didn't lose him. We lost him as a team-mate but not as a person. That's the main thing. But I really hope that this kind of sickness doesn't become worse."