'Great Sunday' - adrenaline beats pain for Zarco

Starting from pit lane, just a few days after surgery for a broken scaphoid bone in his right wrist, Johann Zarco surely never believed he'd be fighting with world championship leader Fabio Quartararo at the end of the Styrian MotoGP.

"It has been a great Sunday. Better than I could expect. I wanted some rain, we didn't get it but even in the dry finally the race was good," Zarco said.

Electing not to take any painkillers in order to maintain full feeling in his wrist, Zarco faced a massive physical challenge just to complete the 28 laps.

The Frenchman also felt his chances of reaching the points were not helped by what he felt was a slow release from the end of pit lane.

"I needed five or six laps to catch the second last rider because it seemed like the marshal that had to give me the green flag fell asleep! It was really long!" Zarco smiled.

The Avintia Ducati rider – who would have started on the front row without the penalty for the previous weekend's incident with Franco Morbidelli - took six laps to pass team-mate Tito Rabat, reaching 18th place when the race was stopped due to Maverick Vinales' accident.

"In the first race after 15 laps [the wrist] was a little bit critical in that moment. So I've been lucky to have two starts today," Zarco said. "It was great to have a little break to recover the wrist, because then with the adrenaline on the second start I almost forgot the pain."

Zarco picked off Cal Crutchlow, Bradley Smith, Franco Morbidelli and Alex Marquez during the opening four laps, then spent the rest of the race on the rear wheel of Quartararo.

"I have some really good skills and, with my riding style, some advantage in many places, but to fight with the others at the moment is not helping me," Zarco said. "So I said to the team, when we are able to manage this weak point then I think I can be very strong.

"But the fight was good and at the end with Fabio I was stronger with the engine, but he was also very strong in the brake. And this did not help me to overtake him and go, because I could have been 4-5 tenths faster for the last 3 laps.

"But in the end it's two points and it's good because in the dry I really wasn't sure if I could finish the race. Yesterday the wrist was really painful after a few laps and also this morning I only did four laps in a row and it was painful."

Had it been the hardest two points of his MotoGP career?

"No maybe not the hardest. Because when I was catching one or two points last year sometimes I was destroyed after the race!" Zarco replied, referring to his KTM woes. "Now after the race I'm feeling good."

Despite 12-years in motorcycle grand prix, Sunday was the first time Zarco had raced with a significant injury.

"Even I've been surprised on Saturday, that with pain in the wrist I could be almost faster than last week," Zarco said.

But he did admit that the events of the previous Sunday, when and Morbidelli tangled through the fast Turn 2 kink, had played on his mind. While Zarco had overtaken in the same place again, by backing off to try and stay on the left on the exit he had been repassed.

"Clearly with my bike I can overtake the guys in fifth gear in the straight, on the left [approaching Turn 2]," he said. "Three times I got the opportunity to overtake there. I took it because you are in a race, when you can overtake in the straight you don't wait.

"But then on the brakes [for Turn 3] I was doing my best to stay on the left and then the others were passing me because I was braking so early."

Quartararo confirmed: "I think Johann was thinking about [last weekend]. He was braking a little bit earlier. But for me, it was no issues in turn two. I was still trying to brake late as possible."

Zarco, who will remain with Ducati next season but is tipped to switch from a GP19 to a GP20 run the Pramac team, is now twelfth in the world championship.

Morbidelli finished 2.5s behind Zarco, in 15th.