Johann Zarco is one of the riders who has experimented the most with new manufacturers in MotoGP in recent years, and in 2024 he has a new chapter ahead, now with LCR Honda, a team with which he has already been in three rounds. It remains to be seen what the Frenchman can bring to the structure, which races with one of the most prominent bikes in the category, but not necessarily for the best reasons.
After four years at the helm of the Desmosedici, and having been one of the riders who experienced one of the biggest leaps in competitiveness of the Italian bike, Zarco can therefore be an important element in the evolution of the RC213V, a bike that he already had the opportunity to test in three occasions in 2019.
#5 brings with him a lot of experience in the category, as well as from other manufacturers: this will be the eighth year for the rider, who already rode in 2017 and 2018 with Yamaha, then with the colors of Monster Yamaha Tech3. He would eventually move to the factory team of KTM in 2019, but things didn’t go well there, with Zarco never justifying the performances he had with the Yamaha M1, and he even ended his contract with the Austrian team prematurely, and it was after that that he had his first experience with Honda.
Then came Ducati, with Avintia receiving the rider, before he moved to Pramac. Now comes a new moment in his career, becoming a rider for LCR Honda, which raises the question: what can Zarco bring to the Japanese manufacturer?
In addition to experience in the category, Zarco also has know-how from other manufacturers, namely, in recent years, from the most competitive bike on the grid, and he is going precisely to a structure that is more than ever in need of “fresh blood,” both in terms of riders and their own perspective and ideas about the evolution of the bike, and it is precisely there that the Frenchman can be decisive.
After achieving his first victory in MotoGP, Zarco can be considered a versatile and fundamental rider for Honda’s growth. He has shown on several occasions that he knows how to be balanced on the track, but also equally aggressive, with this perhaps being the most striking trait of his personality on the track, something that was rarely seen in Honda in 2023, except for the usual “suspect,” Marc Márquez, who in 2024 is precisely taking the opposite path by joining Gresini Racing.
Takaaki Nakagami will be the rider’s partner at LCR, and he is the most experienced, but a different philosophy, combined with experience, could make Zarco a key piece in Honda’s future, along with the contribution of a younger and fresher rider with new ideas, also coming from Ducati, Luca Marini, in the factory team.
And it seems that for now the rider’s first impressions have been positive, as in the Valencia test he felt an improvement compared to the 2023 and 2024 models, so it remains to be confirmed if this will happen throughout the year, with the rider’s feedback, combined with experience and within the philosophy that Honda will inevitably have to adapt.
