The Ajo Motorsport rider looks a little tired. With an aspect that makes the Cannes born Frenchman seem older than his twenty-five years and a calm demeanour perhaps it is the marks and satisfaction of what has been a long, pressured and ultimately glorious season that is finally about to come to a close at Valencia. Wearing loose clothing that still do not disguise a physical frame that is clearly fit and dedicated to his profession, Zarco parks himself on his race chair in the pit lane on Friday night to talk about a term in which his unmistakable surname has constantly been on the lips of race fans – and his French legion of followers – all year.

Seven years in Grand Prix has yielded 31 podiums and 1 win in Moto3 and four years now in Moto2 where the combination with Aki Ajo’s crew led to a formidable partnership in 2015 and Zarco has committed to being the first back-to-back champion in Moto2 for 2016 with MotoGP then set to beckon. There are already early rumours linking him with Yamaha for the future and the rider has had a connection with the brand in his native country thanks to his Z&F Grand Prix school. Run with Laurent Fellon Zarco dedicates himself to the riding tuition of kids from the age of six when he is not perfecting his own arts on the distinctive black Ajo Kalex.

With a line of media requests at Ricardo Tormo we were lucky to get a sit down with the champion who is impressively bi-lingual with that thick French accent. He had already become world champion – just the sixth Frenchman to do so in Grand Prix – in Japan and could enjoy races in Phillip Island and Sepang (and would ultimately run a conservative race in Valencia to finish seventh, his second lowest classification of the campaign). We wanted to try to understand how and why Zarco achieved his rate of performance in 2015…

Coming to Valencia you must have carried a large sense of satisfaction. It is hard to imagine the season going any better…?

Since I won the title in Japan I had another victory in Malaysia and I was so happy about that but I was tired coming back from the three weeks overseas and took a good rest to get energy and be ready for this last weekend. After the first practice I did not have the pace I wanted but there was no pressure and I could just try to enjoy it.

To read more and see some of Ray Archer’s photos click HERE and take-in the new issue of OTOR