After finishing 12th in the Qatar GP, Johann Zarco looked ahead to the upcoming race taking place this weekend in Portimão.
‘I think we won’t have rain conditions, only today it’s raining, and a very strong weekend. Marc’s performance last year was very impressive. Also, the Honda people’s comments say they had good feedback about the bike here and were competitive. So I’m curious to see where we can be […]. Maybe here I can fight for Q2 and fight for the top ten – it would be wonderful […]. Knowing that I can ride the bike well, I hope I can match this feeling well here. I remember very well the difference or what was good with the Ducati. So, once again, it will be a good point to understand the difference. I just hope to still have a good feeling, but even better to be faster and more competitive than we were in Qatar,’ the LCR Honda rider started.
In his debut year at Honda, Zarco highlighted the work that has been done by the Japanese brand.
‘We are not at 100 percent at the moment. But in Qatar if I could use 100 percent’ […] maybe I would have finished the Sunday race in tenth place; it wasn’t something to be in the top five, because the whole package is not ready yet to do this race in 1m53s low every lap like in Qatar. But it’s normal. […]. If we improve three tenths, we can reach the goal we want. So, this is how I see things and I think it’s not a bad way’, he explained.
The Frenchman also took the opportunity to praise Honda’s work: ‘They really changed things to develop in the same way as European brands‘.
