Paris (AFP)

The future of Johann Zarco in MotoGP suddenly darkened Tuesday with the decision of the Austrian team KTM to replace him by the Finnish Mika Kallio from the GP of Aragon (Spain) Sunday, after a nightmare season, marked in particular by many falls.

The announcement was made by the Austrian team in a statement: the double world champion Moto-2 "remains (nevertheless) under contract" with the team he will leave at the end of the season, following results disappointing. Kallio, 36, will replace him for the last six races.

"The French will no longer be subject to his obligations Moto GP driver, but he remains under contract until the end of the season," said his team in a statement.

The No. 5 carrier, the most successful French rider in the modern history of the bike (29 years old), was going through a very difficult pass since the beginning of his first season with KTM, failing to adapt his driving to the characteristics of his RC 16. He finished 11th Sunday at the San Marino GP, behind his Spanish teammate Pol Espargaro, 7th at the finish.

"We thank Johann for his efforts since he joined our ambitious project in November last year, we must now look to the future and that's why we made this decision," commented the boss of the KTM Motorsport stable, Pit Beirer, at the announcement of the decision.

His best result this season remains a 10th place at the Catalunya GP in June, far from expectations placed in him after a promising start in Moto GP. He had a particular impact in taking the lead in his first Qatar Grand Prix GP in 2017 with his Yamaha satellite.

- A scheduled departure at the end of the season -

Mid-August, the native of Cannes had already announced that he would leave the KTM team at the end of the season, leaving some doubt about his future on the world circuit.

With just 27 points, Johann Zarco is currently in 17th place in the world championship, far from the 77 points of Pol Espargaro, who is 11th.

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 had finished 6th in the championship each time and best independent driver.

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.

His replacement Kallio, KTM's official test driver, has solid experience in lower categories: 16 wins and 49 podiums.

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. The 20-year-old has almost won the first French win in the queen class for 20 years on Sunday in San Marino, finishing second behind the world leader Marc Marquez of Spain.

For his first season in the queen category at age 20, Quartararo has already ridden four times on the podium and achieved three pole positions.

The departure of Zarco KTM frees a saddle at the Austrian manufacturer while free places in the queen category are virtually non-existent.

© 2019 AFP