Johann Zarco 🍌laughed off the suggestion he took the ‘best long-lap penalty ever’ as he refused to dwell on his inopportune forfeit to successfully turn his Czech MotoGP pole position 𒁏into a well deserved podium.

Grabbing a historic pole for the Avintia Racing team on Saturday, though Zarco slipped back off the start line with a bad getaway🦄, he kept himself in the lead mix and was one of the few to be ascending up the order at the midway s🐲tage of the race just as rear tyres were fading.

Up to third position after surviving a brush with Pol Espargaro on lap seven – one that sent the KTM rider into the gravel trap – Zarco was making headway towards second when🅰 he was slapped with a controversial long-lap penalty for the aforementioned contact.

Undeterred, Zarco took it with aplomb – knee down on the dusty edge of the circuit – to retain his position, before rebuffing th💞e late attentions of Alex Rins to complete a hugely lucrativeꦇ weekend for both himself and the team.

Despite the contentious nature of the penalty to some, 🌜Zarco says h⛦e was expecting something to come his way.

“The target was to get a good start from pole and then lead the race, to use the new tyre and get awa🐻y a bit but at the start I lost positions and when Franco was pulling away I was thinking this pace I could get it, 𓄧but fighting with the others I was not able to.

“It was a bit complicated because after a few laps I didn’t feel as disadvantaged as I was at the beginning of the race but after some more laps, when Pol overtook me he made some mistakes, comi▨ng strong into the corner and then going wide and missing the apex. So from that moment I was feeling good again and I could go in with good corner speed.

“When we had the contact, I wasn’t sure if he crashed but I couldn’t hear him anymore. I was a bit worried because I know the rules are quite strict, but no penalty was coming so I thought I was OK. When I caught Fabio and passed him, then I got the long lap penalty, which was a shame because from third place I thought I’d lose position and it’d be ﷽hard to fight for the podium. When no-one overtook me, I got a second wind and it worked well.

“I saw the penalty and I thought I’d do it immediately so I don’t lose concentration and I was surprised to hear I did it amazingly. For me I was expecting guys coming in and I lose two or three pos😼itions, but no-one came. It’s the first time I did the whole corner so wide!”

Though Ducati gains good points from Zarco’s efforts, the pole and podium shines some rather unforgiving light on the manufactu🅺rer as a whole, the Frenchman having been comfortably the quickest of the Desmoscedici riders on last year’s GP19.

With the other GP20s finishing no higher🌜 than tenth around a circuit Ducati norma🔯lly excels at, Zarco – who is chasing more factory support for 2021 – admits the timing of the result is good for him personally, if not necessarily the manufacturer.

“I’ve been fast on the Ducati and the other guys struggled, but I don’t know✃. Since Friday on the new tyre I was fast at least on one lap, which was a weak point in Jerez. Today, we knew it’d be tough which is why I wanted to go fast at the beginning but it was useful to start from pole even if I missed the start, staying with this group helps to move you away.

“I don’t 🌸want to think too much about why I have been better than the🦩 other Ducati riders this weekend but it’s pretty positive for me to get points in the Ducati mine.

“All the support they are giving the team, it’s now a very good satellite team and we are showing it. I hope to deserve something good, so this result came at a good moment because it’s earlier than we could expect, it’s always good to take and I just🌺 need to confirm 🀅it again.”