Paris (AFP)

The future of Johann Zarco in MotoGP has suddenly become more uncertain with the decision to break prematurely at the end of the 2019 championship its two-year contract with KTM after a nightmare season, marked by falls in series.

The anticipated separation was made official by the Austrian team on Monday.

Aged 29, Zarco is going through a difficult time since the start of his first season with KTM, which has been marked by numerous falls and difficulties in adapting to the characteristics of his bike.

"It's official, I will not race with KTM for the MotoGP 2020 season, it was a hard decision to make, I now have the chance to do the best job possible and I want to do it with a smile and ride for .... ", wrote the French pilot on Twitter, leaving the suspense hanging over his future.

"Zarco tried to adapt their driving style to the KTM RC16 and the team tried relentlessly to conform the bike to his wishes and demands while his teammate Pol Espargaro qualified regularly in the first twelve and is constantly beaten for the top ten positions in the race ", says KTM without hesitation.

With only 22 points, Johann Zarco is currently in 17th place in the championship, far from the 61 points of Pol Espargaro, who is 11th.

"Ultimately, Johann and the team decided not to continue their joint project in 2020 and will now focus on the last eight races of the MotoGP season," says KTM.

Moto2 World Champion twice in 2015 and 2016, the Cannois then went on to MotoGP with the Yamaha Tech3 satellite team, recording in 2017 and 2018 good results with each year three podiums and two poles. He finished sixth in the championship each time.

His time at KTM with a factory pilot status for 2019 had surprised, Austrian bikes being far from recording results comparable to those of the Yamaha or other top teams, including Honda and Ducati.

KTM arrived in MotoGP in 2017 and has embarked on a development program aiming to rise to the level of the best but which has not yet borne fruit, the manufacturer appearing after 11 events in the penultimate place of the championship builders with 69 points.

- "Silly Season" -

The boss of the Austrian manufacturer, Stefan Bierer, however announced Sunday on the sidelines of the Austrian GP that this program would be extended by two years compared to the originally planned duration, ie until 2024, and that it would now grant it the priority, thereby reducing its commitment to Moto2.

The bad results of Johann Zarco in MotoGP are all the more highlighted that those of the other French rider engaged in MotoGP, Fabio Quartararo, are excellent.

Quartararo is also racing for the Yamaha satellite team, now called SRT. For his first season in the senior category at age 20, he has already climbed three times on the podium with three pole positions.

The departure of Zarco KTM frees a saddle at the Austrian manufacturer while the "silly season" on the transfer of pilots for the next season in full swing.

Another uncertainty weighs in particular on the future of the Spaniard Jorge Lorenzo, who spent this year from Ducati to Honda but who is experiencing great difficulties. Three-time world champion (2010, 2012, 2015), he is currently discarded from the circuits after a fall in the GP trials of the Netherlands in June and is expected to return at the next British GP at the end of August.

According to unconfirmed information, he would end his contract with Honda - where he teamed with the current championship leader Marc Marquez-- at the end of this season to move to another team.

As for Zarco, it's hard to predict where he could bounce. "I think he has symptoms of burnout," Bierer said in an interview at Speedweek, a Swiss motorsports site and linked - like KTM - to Red Bull, where he talks about "overwork syndrome" ".

© 2019 AFP