Johann Zarco has fueled further controversy by revealing that he placed too much trust in his manager in making his ill-fated move to KTM for the 2019 MotoGP World Championship season.
The Frenchman had a tough 2019 season to deal with after moving from Tech 3 Yamaha to the up-and-coming KTM Factory project.
After choosing to accept the risk of unemployment by shortening his two-year agreement to just one season, Zarco was dropped from the team ahead of Round 12 because it was focused on 2020.
In an interview with Motosprint, Zarco claims he placed too much trust in his manager Laurent Fellon when he decided to switch to KTM after being successful with the Satellite Tech 3 Yamaha team – including six podiums.
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However, with Tech 3 ending its collaboration with Yamaha to become a satellite KTM entry while Zarco still had few options for 2019, he insists the decision was too “premature”.
“I don’t regret it and I have to add that it wasn’t entirely my decision to sign with KTM,” he said. “My former manager supported me, I trusted him very much and it was perhaps too much self-confidence that led us to make a hasty decision.
When he thinks back to that time at KTM, now that he has officially left the contract with the Austrian company, Zarco says that he would rather not have risked anything than continue with the team.
“I was on a two-year contract, but considering the way things were going, I couldn’t go on like this. Afraid of losing everything, I preferred to take the risk of not riding a motorcycle anymore and looked for other roads that came up at the end of the year. I couldn’t be happy getting paid to do nothing. I couldn’t live like that. “
Zarco – who says he became his own manager after splitting up with Fellon – drove for LCR Honda in the last three events of 2019 in what he hoped would be a prelude to a move to Repsol Honda that will mark the retired Jorge Lorenzo replaced.
When that move failed, Zarco accepted a deal to join Avintia Ducati. While it doesn’t have the same status as Ducati’s primary satellite project, Pramac Racing, Zarco is confident that this is the first step towards becoming the official team.
“I have to set a pretty real goal for myself, so I’m aiming for the top 10. From then on I will try to keep improving. If so, I will show that I have a good attitude to regain a position on an official team, but with a winning bike. “
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