Monster Yamaha Tech3 star Johann Zarco displayed a tactically impressive qualifying performance today in Termas de Río Hondo. With a perfectly timed fast lap towards the end of the second qualifying the Frenchman, who was the best Yamaha rider again today, played his cards excellently on rain tyres to secure the third position and with it his sixth front row start in succession.

Meanwhile, Hafizh Syahrin did well during FP3 and quickly found himself on ease, although the premier class rookie was struggling in Q1, finding it hard to judge the grip level on the half wet and half dry tarmac. The Malaysian will have to tackle the Gran Premio Motul de la República Argentina from the eighth row of the grid when the red lights go out tomorrow at 15:00 local time for the second race in 2018.


Johann Zarco - Position: 3rd - Time: 1’47.365 - Laps: 7

“I had the two bikes ready for the time attack, one with slicks and one with rain tyres. I saw the guys going out with slicks, but corner seven and eight were just too wet, so it was complicated. I tried to wait and see the sectors how Jack (Miller) was going and I had to decide quickly before it was too late. I chose the rain tyres, because I knew I felt more comfortable, even if it’s drying out. I was pushing a lot, it’s a good place. I didn’t think it was possible for me to do the same on slicks like Jack did. I’m happy. It’s another opportunity to start well tomorrow and even with the difficult conditions during the sessions, I hope we have enough information to prepare the warm up and be ready for the race.”

Hafizh Syahrin - Position: 23rd - Time: 1’51.142 - Laps: 8

“For me it’s quite hard to adapt myself on the big machine in this kind of conditions. This morning I had a very good pace and a great feeling with the bike, but we tried to change some small things to improve, but finally, my sensation for the grip was not as positive as before. I tried hard to lower my lap time, but I was missing the right feeling. The race tomorrow is for sure not going to be easy, nevertheless I’ll give my best to try to end up as the best rookie.”