Source: Supplied.

French newcomer Johann Zarco stunned on Sunday evening by leading the first six laps of his MotoGP career, before unfortunately crashing out of first position at the beginning of lap seven.

The double Moto2 world champion has been impressive for much of the pre-season at Monster Yamaha Tech 3, however he shocked onlookers by comfortably leading the opening laps in tricky conditions at Losail.

From fourth on the grid, 26-year-old Zarco shot to the front of the field on lap one and led by 1.6 seconds across the line at the end of lap six. His race ended in the gravel-trap soon afterwards.

“Despite the end result, I am happy and it was so good to lead the field in my first race,” Zarco said. “This morning, we had a longer warm-up because there wasn’t any action on Saturday. The track was not perfect, but my feeling was very strong and my grid position, which was fourth, was close to the top.

“Just before the start, the procedure was disrupted because it rained twice and there was a delay. When the GP finally commenced, I was focused and I could see that I was not far from first, so I wanted to take the opportunity to do well. I know that my starts are strong and I overtook some good riders at the first corner and I then got into a consistent rhythm.

“I kept pushing but on the sixth lap, I decided to relax and maybe I went off the racing line a little bit and then I fell at the second corner. This is a shame, but we are always on the limit and I still need to learn the category so this kind of mistake is part of my lesson as a rookie in MotoGP. I am happy in the end, it’s a pity about the result but it’s important for my confidence and I am excited for the Argentina round.”

Meanwhile, fellow rookie Jonas Folger – who has been vastly impressive throughout the pre-season – put forward a consistent effort to finish 10th, second-highest of the rookies behind Team Suzuki Ecstar’s Alex Rins.