In his first premier class start, the two-time Moto2 champion led the first six laps of the Losail season opener, and steadily began to pull away from his pursuers.

His sensational charge came to an end at Turn 2 on the seventh lap, after he had built a cushion of 1.6 seconds out front, as he lost the front end of his 2016-spec Yamaha M1 and crashed.

Speaking immediately afterwards, Zarco admitted that he had been pushing hard and that he accepted the risks his strategy entailed.

But in a press conference to present May's Le Mans MotoGP race, the Frenchman expressed confidence that he may be able to repeat such a performance in future.

"My worry was to be quick at the start, because we know that riders like [Marc] Marquez, [Valentino] Rossi and [Maverick] Vinales start amazingly; they manage to get good lap times straightaway," he said.

"Starting fourth, I was hoping to get a good start and find the pace as quickly as them. I ended up finding it more quickly, and then it was great."

"At that moment [of the crash], you struggle to realise. 'Did I actually lead the race? Did I not? I'm waking up, I'm pinching myself, but I'm well and truly in the gravel trap and everything is over'.

"In the end, you take the positives because as a rookie, you wonder: 'Can I do it?'.

"Now, at least, in my mind, racing at the front in MotoGP is no longer just a glimmer of hope, it's a real light, you can almost catch it. I just need to repeat [what I did]."

Zarco added that his Qatar showing was "very motivating" and will push both he and Tech 3 teammate Jonas Folger to aim for higher goals than they had initially set.

"I showed good potential, now I need to capitalise and start again while keeping humble goals, [finish] in the top 10, like Jonas," he said.

"Given our winter tests, you might think [Folger and I] can aim for the top 10. But given what we did at the start of the race [in Qatar], maybe we can go for sixth, fifth… set a higher goal.

"It's very motivating and we think that when the bike is doing well, it can happen."

Additional reporting by Lena Buffa