born in cannes, zarco progressed up the motorcycling ladder and moved into minimoto championships in 2004, mainly based in italy. in 2005, zarco finished as runner-up in the senior mini european championship and in 2006, he was runner-up in the european open championship. he also competed in the italian 125cc championship, where he finished in twelfth place. zarco took part in the red bull rookies cup in 2007, and won the championship at estoril, after winning three races. he added a fourth win at the final race in valencia. these performances enabled zarco to become part of the red bull motogp academy scheme along with cameron beaubier, jonas folger and danny kent. this reduced his racing in 2008, making a sporadic appearance in the italian championship with team gabrielli.