After leaving Pramac Racing, where he was in charge of a Ducati, Johann Zarco accepted Honda’s invitation and is now part of LCR. In his first round with the Japanese bike, things did not go well for the Frenchman, who finished 16th in the Sprint and 12th in the long race, but still found reasons to be satisfied.
The 33-year-old rider spoke to Canal+ about his Sunday race and apparently was happy, revealing that he even asked his RC213V not to be too fast in order to maintain stability: ‘I managed to keep a decent pace until the end because I only had a little vibration on the bike compared to Saturday. I had told them that I didn’t want a fast bike because it would be out of control and not vibrate much. So, I was able to try out some things’.
On track, Zarco felt in control despite finishing far from the race winner and still having some issues with the grip of the Honda on the track: ‘It was manageable, which meant I could maintain the pace throughout the race and finish with 53.5s, which is still decent. But there was no way to go faster, we had a little less grip in this race. I was able to fight a lot in the beginning, but we lacked acceleration in two places, even in three very important places, and I always lost a few tenths that I tried to make up for. But you don’t want to make mistakes and, frankly, good control…’
