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"Scared" Zarco explains Assen bike swap decision

Dutch TT polesitter Johann Zarco says he decided to take a risk by pitting for wet tyres during Sunday's Assen race, because he was "really scared" to carry on with slicks in the rain.

Johann Zarco, Monster Yamaha Tech 3

Johann Zarco, Monster Yamaha Tech 3

Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Johann Zarco, Monster Yamaha Tech 3
Johann Zarco, Monster Yamaha Tech 3
Top 3 after qualifying: Marc Marquez, Repsol Honda Team, PolesitterJohann Zarco, Monster Yamaha Tech 3, Danilo Petrucci, Pramac Racing
Johann Zarco, Monster Yamaha Tech 3
Johann Zarco, Monster Yamaha Tech 3
Johann Zarco, Monster Yamaha Tech 3 with a toy bike
Johann Zarco, Monster Yamaha Tech 3
Johann Zarco, Monster Yamaha Tech 3
Polesitter Johann Zarco, Monster Yamaha Tech 3
Johann Zarco, Monster Yamaha Tech 3
Johann Zarco, Monster Yamaha Tech 3 with a toy bike

Tech 3 Yamaha rider Zarco claimed his maiden MotoGP pole position in a rainy qualifying on Saturday, and led the first 11 laps of the race on Sunday.

But the Frenchman, who chose to ran soft tyres front and rear in the race, was then demoted by Valentino Rossi, Marc Marquez and Danilo Petrucci in quick succession.

Zarco was the only one of the top four to gamble on wets when spots of rain arrived, but the gamble did not pay off and he eventually took 14th after lapping several seconds off the pace on wets.

He admitted he did not feel comfortable riding on slicks in the case of a sudden big shower, but admitted he ended up going from "hero to zero" with that decision.

"Just when it began to rain, I was really scared with the slick tyres," Zarco explained.

"We were already on the limit when it’s dry so you can imagine when it’s a little bit wet, you can crash and I didn’t want to take this risk.

"I took the decision to come into the pits when they took this white flag. If it was raining more then I could be a god, but finally [I went] from hero to zero."

Zarco added his decision was also motivated by the fact Assen often features fast-changing conditions, and that Sunday morning's warm-up was hit by a big downpour.

He said: "This safe feeling is important, and you know when the marshal was putting the [white] flag about the rain, I was thinking, 'Dutch marshals, they know the weather too'.

"So if they put [out the] rain [flag], it means it’s raining, and you could see this morning [in warm-up] some rain, then it was heavy rain. You cannot know these kind of things.

"The choice was to stay for everyone, but for me, I took the risk, so we just have to win. I took the risk to go into the pit, I deserve what I get."

Victory not possible under normal circumstances

Zarco reckoned he wouldn't have been able to fight for the win even without the rain, as his riding style made the fast-changing sections of the track a "negative point" for the Frenchman.

"If it’s not raining, maybe fight for podium [was possible]," he said. "But [the] victory, my two negative points on the track were too important to fight for victory.

"It’s on fast changing direction. It is very specific things on this track, even in Moto2 I had some problems and it’s my style that makes the thing difficult.

"When they began to overtake me, it was part of the race. They [the tyres] were feeling good and I wanted to fight, so everything was going well.

"I was struggling at two points of the circuit, but even this problem compared to them I was able to stay. I did more than half the race with them – I was leading for a longer time than usual."

Additional reporting by Casper Ferwerda

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