Pramac’s Johann Zarco says Jorge Martin’s MotoGP victory confirms his own feeling on the Ducati ahead of the AustrianGP’s return to the Red Bull Ring this weekend.

The Frenchman was frustrated to finish Sunday’s red-flagged-race in sixth after being caught by both Brad Binder and Takaaki Nakagami in the last of 27-laps, having spent the entire race distance inside the top-five.

“The fourth place was better than the sixth to resume the [season] because it's true that I could not be pretty fast last weekend,” Zarco said from the pre-event press conference.

“The race was quite okay, just this last lap I'd been struggling - I think with the rear tyre - and Nakagami and Brad they caught me too quick. I could not hold the gap. I've been disappointed immediately after the race - because when the race seems quite okay but then you lose two position in one lap, over all the last one, you get frustrated - but then was not a bad race and I could see good things.

"I've been happy for my teammate that he won the race, and this was even more interesting to confirm what I'm feeling on the bike, that it's possible to win. I just need to get a bit more confidence in a few areas to make the step up to the podium and why not a victory,” he confirmed.

“When I could analyse my performance then I've been enjoying more with the team the good result of Jorge, and this made the Sunday evening quite okay.

“For the motivation, is giving the right motivation because it confirms really the potential of the bike. I think it's one of the best bikes, that can be all the time on the podium or can fight for it and even for the victory. So this confirmation helps Ducati riders to make the extra push.

“Since Qatar 2 the potential of Jorge was there, with the pole position, he led almost all the race and I was following him. The bad thing has been the crash in Portimao and after that, he got difficult races but he showed that the summer break help him a lot to really recover well and then, he was again riding like the ‘Martinator’. That's the good sign. We've less experience, having immediately the right performance really means that we, I say we, as Ducati riders, we just need to make this step up - easier to say than do, but it's the right motivation,” he concluded.