Incoming Pramac Ducati MotoGP rider Johann Zarco says he was forced to "make up for lost time" in 2020, which he links to his "inconsistent" campaign with Esponsorama Racing.
 
Zarco signed directly to Ducati to join Esponsorama Racing (formerly Avintia) for 2020, having walked away from his two-year KTM factory deal following a tough opening half of 2019.

Initially against the move, Zarco would take the satellite GP19 to a pole position at the Czech Grand Prix and recover from a long lap penalty to take third in the race.

 
His form proved inconsistent for the rest of the campaign, the double Moto2 world champion ending the year 13th in the standings and fourth-best Ducati rider.

But Zarco feels the fact he missed four days of testing on the Ducati last November meant the speeded up adaptation to the bike caused him to be "often above my limit", contributing to his mixed form.

"I had some things to catch up and to understand again to be at the top level, and I am happy to have been able to identify them with Ducati and that motivates me to do more next year," Zarco said in a French GP press conference recently.

 
"If I think purely about the championship, it has been a bit inconsistent for me.

"But in my opinion, the fact that I had to make up for lost time has forced me to be often above my limit and therefore to make some mistakes.

"But they are mistakes that allow me to learn from a year where in the end what I had to play for was to bounce back, that's what was most important."