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5 things you need to know about Johann Zarco
Meet the two-time Moto2 champion and former Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup winner Johann Zarco, who will be joining the Red Bull KTM team for the 2019 and 2020 MotoGP seasons.
The French rider made waves riding a KTM back in 2007 when he blitzed the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup with a record-breaking season, and since then has gone on to take 16 race victories, 45 podiums, 22 pole positions and two Moto2 titles. In 2019 he returns to KTM at the highest level.
This season Zarco wowed the MotoGP world with a lap record and pole position at the opening round in Qatar and leading on his non-factory Tech3 Yamaha machine. A stellar second place in Argentina confirmed his pace was no flash in the pan and he is quite rightly being touted as a future MotoGP champion
His speed and steely focus have attracted all the top teams, and the French rider will leave Tech3 Yamaha at the end of this season and join Spanish ace Pol Espargaró at Red Bull KTM and look to establish himself as a regular race winner and genuine championship contender.
Here are five things you need to know about the 2017 MotoGP Rookie of the Year and Red Bull KTM's latest signing.
He is the most successful Frenchman on a Grand Prix bike ever...
France has produced some genuine motorsport heroes, and in the world of Grand Prix motorcycle racing Johann Zarco is the top Frenchman.
2015 Moto2 crown celebration
© MotoGP.com
While French heroes of Formula One and the World Rally Championship form a long list, in 70-odd years of Grand Prix racing French riders have only won three times in the premier class, and with 16 wins already across 125cc and Moto2 Zarco has eclipsed the statistics of previous winning French riders like Christian Sarron and Olivier Jacque.
After winning the Red Bull Rookies Cup in 2007 Zarco won his first 125cc race at Japan in 2011, and after three seasons notching up podiums in Moto2, finally achieved his dreams with the Kalex team winning the title in 2015 and 2016.
An impressive first season in MotoGP led to sixth in the standings last year, the highlight undoubtedly being a maiden podium at his home race in Le Mans.
...and he's the most successful Red Bull Rookie
Zarco graduated to the Red Bull Rookies Cup in 2007 and set the series alight. He is the first Red Bull MotoGP Rookie to win a Grand Prix, and the first to make it to the MotoGP class.
In seven races the French rider won three and scored three podiums. In fact, the only time he wasn't on the podium was at Assen in the Netherlands where he finished 13th. Zarco took the title a record 57 points clear of nearest rival Lorenzo Savadori.
The fact that Zarco won on a KTM and returns to the Austrian manufacturer in 2019 at the highest level of motorcycle racing is a pretty sweet full circle of events.
He's trained by a former paratrooper
From the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup, right through the 125cc World Championship, Moto2, and MotoGP, Zarco's style as a tough and fast no nonsense warrior has been applauded by fans and rivals alike.
Some of these characteristics have no doubt come via his relationship with Laurent Felon, a former paratrooper and mechanic, who Zarco has described as: "my coach, my manager and my mentor... all."
His mentor's tough, but caring, guidance led to Zarco spending six years on the ex-paratrooper's couch and subject to a rigorous training regime. Felon even mortgaged his house so his pupil could get into the 125cc World Championship!
...the faith seems to have paid off.
He's not the only 'Z' to win a Grand Prix
It has to be said that Zarco is a pretty cool surname, and that probably stems from the fact that Z is a pretty cool and rare initial. JZ has won 16 events in his Grand Prix career, but he isn't the only winning rider with (arguably) the coolest initial.
In 1990, the same year Johann Zarco was born, Dutch racer Wilco Zeelenberg took his one and only 250cc win at the German Grand Prix. The ex-Honda rider went on to manage the factory Yamaha team in the World Supersport Championship and MotoGP.
His helmet design echoes racing heroes of the past
Much of Zarco's success has been shaped by his mentor Laurent Felon, and the former paratrooper also influenced Zarco's striking helmet design.
Johann Zarco
© GEPA pictures/Red Bull Content Pool
The sometimes red and white, sometimes black and gold Japanese rising sun comes from a young Zarco learning of the high-speed skills displayed by riders such as Noboru Ueda, Kazuto Sakata and the late Nobuyuki Wakai.
Felon witnessed these riders firsthand when he was working as a mechanic back in the early 1990s and used to tell Zarco about their speed and bravery. This struck a chord, and it's Zarco's way of paying respect to the riders and the history of the sport
"They were world champions, had many nice races. It was to help with the memory of many of these riders," Zarco said in a 2014 interview, a man clearly aware of past heroes, but now looking to establish himself as a future hero of MotoGP.
