‘I wanted to kill people’
MotoGP race winner and two-time Moto2 World Champion Johann Zarco opens up about his unconventional career
Frank Weeink
Johann Zarco is very much his own man. The 33-year-old Frenchman is a two-time Moto2 World Champion and a MotoGP race winner but he’s never been afraid to take bold decisions.
His career has seen him ride for four different manufacturers in MotoGP and despite being one of the oldest riders on the grid, he showed he remains at the top of his game winning at Phillip Island last year and finally performing that trademark backflip.
That helped him finish fifth in the final championship standings in 2023 – something he also achieved in 2021, but somehow his performances seem to consistently go under the radar.
And for this season he has made the enigmatic decision to join LCR Honda and take on what many see as the most under-performing machine in the MotoGP paddock.
MCN tried to get to the bottom of his thinking…
You don’t always make the obvious choices…
“I didn’t always choose the easiest way. I made my choices because of how I feel about things. I try to follow my instinct. When I look back, that helped me to do a lot of things and do it in a different way, compared to other riders. I’m almost proud to see that with that different way this made me have this hunger that I still have.”
‘I’m no Marquez or Pecco but I am doing well’
Quitting KTM in 2019 could have ended your career…
“Yes, but I really believe that I was still wanted in the paddock. Those few months I did with KTM did not show what I could do as a rider. I thought I could still do good things but I was scared to lose that skill. That’s why I said to KTM I wanted to get out of this contract and have another chance somewhere else while I still have my skills. I’ve been so lucky to get another opportunity, first with LCR Honda (replacing injured Takaaki Nakagami). Just for three races but it was just good enough to give Ducati this feeling ‘hey, why not work with Zarco’.”
You’ve created a team of
“No, it wasn’t. I’ve had this for a couple of years, although adding a mental coach was something I did last year. I had to change the way I was speaking to myself. This helped me to be a little more positive and enjoy it, even in the difficult times. The main thing is to have my personal physio Alex, who has a big passion for the sport and also helps me with little things. Before I started working with him, I worked with my brother for three years. He’s a chiropractor. That was interesting but from a sporting point of view it was better to work with a physio. In 2023 I took a bit more control of what I was doing,
At last… the famous Phillip Island win
which people I need around me, who then keep their own role in this organisation. It avoided confusion. Because, even if you all work with one target in mind, there can be tension. That’s only human, but it’s wrong when you need to perform.”
What’s changed about you?
“I no longer say to myself that I’m not fast enough. Sometimes I was thinking, ‘I’m a sh*t’. I was very hard on myself. Then I realised, also because of my experience, ‘okay, I’m no Marc Marquez or Pecco Bagnaia, winning races and titles, but I’m also doing quite well if I show I’m always competitive’. I wasn’t able to do that before. I was putting too much pressure on myself and if I wasn’t racing with the top guys, everything was black. I’ve learned to analyse a bit better and not to destroy myself too easily. It’s good to have that mentality to keep pushing yourself but not to destroy yourself.”
After 120 starts, how did it feel to win a MotoGP?
“I don’t know if I was really thinking about that feeling of winning. Everybody expects this explosion of joy after a win but... I did not have that. Everything became a lot more calm. It had been a big stress in the mind and then... that was gone. It was a weight lifted off my shoulders. That’s what I expected and that’s what I got. That was nice. This feeling of calmness on the cool down lap... I got this big silence in the mind, that was not what I’d expected.”
How emotional was it?
“I cried when I won my Moto2 championships, but that was different. I can cry now more than before. When you get older, crying gets easier! But I did enjoy it. We were not celebrating with a party, I need that feeling of calmness, knowing that ‘this is done, no one will ask me anymore when I would win’. Because I wanted to kill people and journalists who kept asking this! That’s not a very positive thought, wanting to kill people… I felt more peaceful after that.”
Was the decision to join Honda made more by the heart than by the head?
“Yes and no. I turned 33 last year and in that year I experienced a better energy than in the past. I changed my way of training a bit, I had a different approach and that gave me a very fresh energy. I also thought I could look ahead a bit more, have less pressure of always having one-year contracts. Five months after signing a deal you already have to think and speak about the following year. Even with good results, I wasn’t always sure if I’d have a contract. That was a bad feeling sometimes. It seems I was not wanted. The work done with Ducati was fantastic but it’s understandable they’d have a different strategy. So this decision was not driven by the heart so much, more with the head. With this new project, I could look further ahead than just one year.”
Won’t it be tough not racing for podiums this year?
“Of course you can get frustrated because you’re limited in what you can do, but we need to be patient.
This is the situation now, I can handle that. I can only give my info and then it is up to the engineers. We’re fighting bikes that already have a base and develop from that point. We’re still looking to find that base. That’s why we sometimes have big problems, but I have a lot of confidence in the Japanese.”
You’re a big Beatles fan, is there a song that sums up your career?
“Erm… Maybe one of their most famous songs Let It Be, ‘it has to be like this’. It could summarise my career but also so many things for so many people. And since I don’t feel like killing journalists any more I could say Paul McCartney’s
Pipes Of Peace!”
‘I felt calm, winning was a weight off my shoulders