ZARCO SAYS TURN 4 GRAVEL “CRASH TEST” CHECKED HIS KNEE AFTER MOREIRA NEAR MISS

Johann Zarco used Friday practice at the Red Bull Ring as a real-world test for his recovering left knee, after returning to action following a lengthy spell out with ligament damage. The LCR Honda rider had been sidelined for more than 100 days after suffering the injury in Catalunya, when his leg became tangled in Pecco Bagnaia’s rear wheel during a fall on the restart.

On Friday afternoon, Zarco’s comeback session included a moment that he described as both unsettling and revealing. Running through Turn 4, he encountered the gravel and suffered a high-speed wobble that forced him to dab his feet in an effort to stay upright before he eventually went down.

“It was a good crash test for my knee because I did some wobble in the gravel and I was a bit scared for the knee,” Zarco said. “This is the kind of [twisting] movement that can create some pain and fortunately no damage so that was positive, but I've been a bit scared.”

The scare did not end with Zarco. Moments later, his teammate Diogo Moreira also went through the same gravel trap, narrowly avoiding Zarco as the situation unfolded. Moreira explained that, even though he was already braking, he couldn’t stop the bike in time and that he was attempting a different setup.

“I was already braking but it was impossible to stop the bike. I was trying a different setup,” Moreira said. “I didn't see yellow flags, I saw just the marshal running. It was a scary moment.”

Following the incident, the FIM MotoGP Stewards ruled that Moreira was not at fault and took no further action.

Zarco also offered his view on why Turn 4 seemed to catch riders out during the session. He pointed to the downhill nature of the braking zone and the temptation to carry extra speed into the corner.

“That downhill is extreme, and you feel that maybe you can gain a bit on the deceleration,” Zarco said. “I don't try to brake much later, but I just try to get a bit more speed to go in and many times it's too much.”

As practice drew to a close, Zarco remained focused on qualifying. He narrowly missed direct access into Q2, despite posting a lap within half a second of pace-setter Pedro Acosta.

“On the last time attack, I was improving and I had the speed to go in Q2, but I was not relaxed enough on the bike. Just a bit of tension on the last sector,” Zarco said. “But I think the speed is quite good this weekend. If I can have make a small improvement, I can get a good qualifying, also in Q2 and prepare well for the race.”

In the Honda battle for the top ten, Luca Marini was 0.044s ahead of Zarco and also missed the crucial cut. Moreira finished just behind Zarco in 13th, with the pair’s Friday marked by both a knee-related “test” for Zarco and a near-miss sequence around the same gravel trap for Moreira.