Zarco: I don’t think I could do Miller’s lap!

Johann Zarco says he’s pleased he didn’t try Jack Miller’s dry tyre gamble for pole position in qualifying for the Argentina MotoGP having settled for a front row start in third place.

The Tech3 Yamaha rider secured a sixth consecutive front row start after his 1m 47.365s best lap time set using wet Michelin tyres on the drying circuit at Termas de Rio Hondo.

Zarco admits his team were keeping a close eye on the riders switching to dry tyres, including Miller, but with time ticking down in the pole position shootout he opted to play safe to stick with the wet tyres.

“I knew Jack was using the slicks and we were looking with the team at the sector times,” Zarco said. “It was difficult to know if it was better or not but we could not wait for a full lap from him to say if the slicks were the best so when I had to choose I stayed with the rain tyres and I was going to push.

“I think it was a good choice for me because what he did with the slick I don’t think I could do it. There was too much wet for me so I preferred to choose the wet tyre and I am happy with third as it is a good opportunity for the podium tomorrow with conditions in both dry and wet.”

Zarco has echoed his fellow MotoGP riders’ sentiments that he would prefer a dry race tomorrow in Argentina but if it does rain he’s hoping for similar good fortune to reach the top three again.

“It looks like if we have rain I will have more chance to stay in the front,” Zarco said. “In case it is dry there are many guys faster than me and with the difficult things on Friday I hope we can understand what is the problem.

“If it is dry tomorrow in warm-up it would be great to test myself and the bike to find the pace. But if it rains we’ll keep focused and cross our fingers for the podium.

“I think if we start and it is wet we are going to have to swap the bike. I don’t know if we start in the dry but with heavy clouds it can be a tricky race tomorrow so all riders prefer all fully dry or fully wet.”