Johann Zarco's long-awaited switch to KTM for the 2019 season was finally announced ahead of last weekend's Spanish Grand Prix, with the Austrian marque revealing it had snapped up the Frenchman's services for at least the next two years, placing him alongside Pol Espargaro.
KTM's CEO Stefan Pierer made no secret of his fondness to reclaim to the 2007 Red Bull Rookies Cup champion into the Austrian firm's fold, telling German press at Valencia last year that Zarco was “the only rider I am seriously considering for 2019”. High praise, considering four-time MotoGP world champion Marc Marquez had been linked to that seat.
However, Pierer made it clear in the same interview that signing Marquez could prove to be disastrous for KTM. Should the Spaniard struggle, the bike would take the sole blame, with Marquez's proven credentials in getting the most out of the difficult RC213V serving as immunity to any doubters of his talent.
Therefore, taking on Zarco gives KTM some benefit of the doubt should things not go to plan over the next two years. That's not to say going to KTM isn't a risk for the fast Frenchman.
By rights, Zarco should be well tangled in the Yamaha web. Comfortably top rookie in '17 after scoring three podiums and almost winning at Valencia, Zarco was surely Yamaha's future after Valentino Rossi.
But, its reluctance to breaks its usual cycle of giving Tech3 year-old M1s sewed up Zarco's decision where the Japanese manufacturer was concerned – while also forcing Tech3 to get into bed with KTM as well, who offered promise of full factory support from '19.
According to Zarco's manager Laurent Fellon in an interview with French television at Jerez, Yamaha never even approached Zarco with a deal, while he also accused Rossi of blocking any such move. Given Yamaha signed Maverick Vinales for two more years prior to the start of testing, before Rossi re-signed, that last part seems unlikely.
Not that sticking with Yamaha would be the best idea. The Iwata factory still hasn't gotten its head around the control electronics, and once again are suffering as a result at the start of this season, with Rossi warning after a tough Jerez – in which he and Vinales were fifth and seventh, but likely to have been further down had it not been for the high attrition rate – Yamaha could need another year if it does not find a solution soon.
Zarco has managed two podiums this season – and is just 12 points from standings leader Marc Marquez in second – but even he struggled in Jerez. The difference is, Zarco is just able to better manage the problem because of his ultra-smooth style. But, with Honda, Ducati and Suzuki making strides all the time, winning a championship by better managing a problem his rivals don't have will be impossible.
Links to the “dream team” at Repsol Honda picked up momentum during the Qatar weekend, with neither Zarco nor Marc Marquez particularly fazed by the prospect of sharing a garage.
But Honda, arguably, posed a greater risk to Zarco's career than KTM. The RC213V has been a difficult beast in recent years, and despite the bike taking a step forward this year in terms of performance thanks to a new, less aggressive engine, LCR's factory-backed Cal Crutchlow says the bike is even harder to ride than last year's.
“I think last year we were having to push harder in the corners. But the engine now is strong, sure, and it makes us more competitive without taking as many risks,” Crutchlow said after his Argentina win. “But, it also comes with its downsides because the bike is so physical to ride. We have to manually ride the bike a lot, and with more power it makes it even harder again. But I think we have to take less risk in the corner, but in change of direction, corner-to-corner, the acceleration is actually harder than last year.”
Given the RC213V is now in its seventh year, it will be hard for HRC to all of sudden transform the bike into something much more user-friendly by January. And this would be a disaster for Zarco. Marquez has won the last two titles on a bike that probably shouldn't have been capable. If Zarco went to Honda and struggled while Marquez was still able to challenge for the title, the Frenchman's stock would crash.
Zarco also reasoned that joining Honda would mean having to rise to the level of Marquez as a rider, and he felt if he could achieve that on a Honda, then he would be able to do the same on the KTM.
“If you are next to Marc and if you want to win races, you have to be strong like him, maybe stronger. So this means I must improve a lot my riding style, and then we were thinking if you have this level of riding it means you can be fast with the KTM. We believe in that, and that's why we take this challenge…”
While the KTM is yet to even close in on a podium, the potential is there. Starting its debut year three seconds off the pace, Espargaro, Bradley Smith and test rider Mika Kallio reduced that gap to just eight tenths by the final round in Valencia. As is the potential for the bike to hook up with the sweet style of Zarco.
“I will confirm in the test that the bike was faster, for me it was quite [a lot] faster,” Espargaro said to Motorsport.com about KTM's '19 prototype bike, which Kallio raced at Jerez and beat the current bikes.
“Especially with used tyres on the race distance, in low grip, and Mika is confirming it. I've been [riding] behind Mika in the first of the practices with used tyres this morning, and this afternoon, and I almost couldn't follow him. He was turning quite a lot. Mika's fast, but I know how this bike feels in Jerez and it's exactly the same.”
Zarco will have to adapt his style to the KTM almost certainly, but the infancy of the bike will give KTM room to also adapt the RC16 to him, hopefully avoiding the hell Ducati and Jorge Lorenzo have found themselves in.
But he will need to keep his wits about him. Espargaro is a solid rider, but isn't considered among MotoGP's elite the way Zarco is. The Frenchman will need to get the measure of Espargaro fairly quickly to avoid any flak. He'll also need to be wary of Moto2 graduate Miguel Oliveira at Tech3; losing against him could be catastrophic to his future career, and Zarco knows all about Moto2 upstarts upsetting the established status quo in their rookie campaigns.
Moving to KTM is a gamble for Zarco. But its seemingly infinite backing from title sponsor Red Bull, the fact there will be four RC16s on the '19 grid to help accelerate development, and free from the pressure of comparisons to elite teammates, all signs point to Zarco's punt paying off handsomely.
