Pramac Ducati’s Johann Zarco says he is struggling in Mugello’s hotter conditions after qualifying on the front row for Sunday’s ItalianGP.

Cloud cover and the threat of rain seemed to pay off for the Frenchman as he navigated his way to third at the Tuscan track this afternoon, helped in part by a last-minute tow from the factory Desmosedici of Pecco Bagnaia. 

Having made progress with his GP 21 across the weekend, Zarco is confident of his potential for tomorrow’s 23-lap race, having already earmarked improvements for morning warm-up if conditions allow. 

“It was quite hard yesterday afternoon. The challenge today was to find some solution to get fast at least.” Zarco admitted from the Mugello press conference. 

“In the morning, I was happy to do huge improvements, and it looks like when the conditions are a little bit cooler I have a much better feeling than in the afternoon. 

“It's true that in FP4 I didn't get to a very high pace or not very good performance but the tyres were very used and when it's getting difficult then it’s always getting a little bit worse all the time. It was not easy to really understand how the heat of the temperature was giving the trouble or how the used tyres were giving me trouble, but I did the laps and got some feeling. 

“In the qualifying, I think this last session, this last run, it was pretty important to have this train pulled by Pecco and I got this good lap. So I would say a bit of luck for this afternoon, but to be able to use the potential of the Ducati here makes me pretty happy, because it's important.

“The good work we did from yesterday to today, I don't expect a huge step from today to tomorrow, but we still have some areas where we can try something. We tried things also again today that we maybe need a confirmation in the warmup, if the conditions are good enough to test it.

“Yesterday I was struggling in the third sector, but still today, we can see that we are still missing something - I would say maybe the very fast corners, Arrabbiata 1 and 2, makes things difficult and also turn 12. The big step I could do this morning helped me in this sector but also helped me a bit everywhere, because there is the main straight but then from the first sector, second sector, they are, not the same, but very similar because of the many changes of direction. 

"When you can put the bike in the right position, finally it helps you in almost in every corner. I think we did this kind of step today. Let’s see tomorrow if I can find some more comfort in every place to have more chances during the race.

“To start on the front row is always an advantage but I believe that tomorrow in the race we will see the potential” he concluded.