Zarco stopped at the border on route to MotoGP training
The Avintia Ducati rider was on his way to a training session at Circuit de Catalunya when Spanish police briefly prevented him from entering Spain
AVINITIA Ducati racer Johann Zarco was prevented briefly from entering Spain this week after the Spanish police stopped him from crossing the border.
The Frenchman was travelling from France to Spain to take part in a training session to be held at the Circuit de Catalunya riding a brand new Panigale V4 road bike.
The training marked the first time the rider had topped 300kph (186mph) since the end of the Qatar MotoGP test back in February.
Aside from blowing away the cobwebs on the Ducati, Zarco admitted that he was lucky he had documents from Dorna advising why he was travelling.
"I've been lucky and thanks to Dorna for giving me the papers to come to Catalunya, because yesterday at the border between France and Spain I got blocked by the Police to control why I'm entering Spain," Zarco told the official MotoGP website. "Without those Dorna documents, I could not have come here for training.
"But now I'm here and it's giving me good feelings... I'm happy to go over 300km/h - with this Panigale, it's possible to go very fast and it's so important because I could see my mind was losing a little reflex.
"So it's necessary to be at high-speed to get used to and be ready for [the first race at] Jerez in July."
Other riders present at the training session were Moto2 riders Jorge Martin, Xavi Vierge plus Moto3's Raul Fernandez. Currently, Pol Espargaro is the only rider of the MotoGP field to have been back out on a current MotoGP machine thanks to a private test he attended at the Red Bull Ring, the site of KTM’s global HQ.
Yesterday Carmelo Ezpeleta confirmed how he thinks the 2020 MotoGP season will play out, including non-European events and how many races could take please. To read that article, click here.
Simon (AKA Toad) has been working within the motorcycle industry for more than twelve years, and a member of the motorcyclist family since birth. Growing up around British-built single and twins, it was inevitable that a life on two wheels was on the cards, from a very early age!
