Johann Zarco says he is now more accepting of his situation at KTM and aims to “better control” his emotions in the second half of the 2019 MotoGP campaign.
The double Moto2 champion’s debut campaign aboard the RC16 has been a miserable experience, with just one top 10 finish and a lowly 16 points scored in the first nine races as he struggled to adapt to the bike.
Zarco has been working with a new manager in the form of 500cc polesitter Jean-Michel Bayle after an outburst over the bike at Jerez prompted a backlash from KTM management, and Zarco has previously stated this has helped him to re-focus himself.
Speaking ahead of the Czech Grand Prix, Zarco says he has been able to better accept that changes made to the bike may not deliver the gains he is targeting.
“The focus for the second half of the year is to better control all the emotions that I would go through in the first part of the season,” he said.
“[I’ve] been sad too many times because I was not getting what I wanted [from the bike].
“And the summer break allowed me to better accept my situation, and then just accepting that [mentality] can help me to work better and accept changes [to the bike] may not immediately bring me progress.
“But at the moment if I do not change anything I will not make progress.”
Over the summer, test rider Dani Pedrosa spent three days at the Red Bull Ring trying various new parts, some of which have been brought to Brno.
Commenting on Pedrosa’s work, Zarco says the new base set-up the former Honda rider has found with the KTM will be “important” for him.
“To also make a fresh [start] and get a good base, I think the work Dani has done during this summer will be a great base [to start from],” Zarco said.
“He is this kind of rider who is so clean in his riding and knows perfectly what he does on the bike.
“So for me, it’s pretty important to have this base set-up and from that push myself to not lose myself too much as I did in the last races.”