Ducati Corse general manager Gigi Dall’Igna has confirmed Johann Zarco will be given factory support for the 2020 MotoGP World Championship season provided he shows he can deliver strong results for the Avintia team.
Zarco joins the Ducati fold this season with the privateer Spanish outfit, which has been promoted to ‘satellite’ status in 2020 in part to convince the double Moto2 World Champion to join what he had previously dismissed as ‘not a top team’.
Indeed, though Zarco and team-mate Tito Rabat will ride year-old Ducati GP19s in 2020, the Frenchman’s contract is directly with the manufacturer, a status that will see him receive four Ducati-sourced track and electronics engineers this season.
Despite the limitations of what upgrades Ducati can offer Zarco on the Avintia bike, Dall’Igna says that provided he can show good results with what he has, he’ll be in line for more support over the course of the year.
“It depends on his results," Dall’Igna told Crash.net. "For me, the important thing is the results. If Johann shows us he can do good results, for sure I have to help him. I've done this all my life and I’ll do this also in the future. If I can’t do something like that I will change my job!
"We cannot change [Zarco's] engine, because it’s frozen at the beginning of the season. But I’m open to do the best for him. I’m serious. I'm not joking."
Zarco, who makes his debut on Ducati machinery at the upcoming Sepang MotoGP test, comes to Avintia after a troubled 2019 campaign that started with KTM but concluded with a solid guest spot on the LCR Honda.
However, Dall’Igna saw Zarco’s unemployment as a great opportunity for the team to bolster its rider ranks and is keen to see what he can do with the tools he has.
"I think we have the possibility to do something better for him than work on the aerodynamics. First of all I have to understand what he needs. After that, I can take the decision about what I can do for him.
"We have a crew chief [Marco Rigamonti] that worked for Ducati for a long time. Now he's come back just to follow Johann. We are ready to support Johann from the technical point of view and also from the people point of view."
