ZARCO ACCEPTS GRID PENALTY AFTER HOLDING UP BEZZECCHI IN Q2 AT MISANO

Johann Zarco’s San Marino GP weekend in Misano began strongly but ended with frustration after qualifying. The LCR rider had impressed on Friday, finishing fifth in the first session and then eighth in the time attack to secure direct entry into Q2. However, Saturday did not build on that momentum. Zarco admitted he was “frustrated from the morning,” explaining that he “didn’t manage to add to the great Friday.” The downward trend showed up in FP2 and continued through qualifying, where he again failed to reach the top ten.

The biggest blow came after qualifying when Zarco received a grid penalty for an incident in Q2. At the start of the session, he had held up Marco Bezzecchi on a fast lap. Zarco accepted responsibility, saying: “The second row was definitely possible, but I missed it. That I didn’t perceive Bez—my mistake. The penalty is justified.” As a result, instead of starting from 11th, Zarco will take the race from 14th.

Earlier in the weekend, Zarco had also competed in the sprint, where he finished 10th, just behind his LCR teammate Luca Marini. Zarco felt he had a chance to challenge for the final points position but couldn’t close the gap: “I rode a few good laps. But not good enough to catch Marini. I had the hope of still getting a point, but we had difficulties.” Those difficulties were linked to tyre selection. Zarco was among the riders who changed from the soft to the medium-hard rear tyre in the grid lineup.

Despite not scoring, Zarco framed the day as data-positive. “It’s like in the pits,” he said. “If you fight, you have to accept that you sometimes take hits. You don’t like it, but it’s part of it. And even if we didn’t get a point, we had good data.”