MotoGP | For Zarco, the Honda project has improved a lot

In the Qatar Grand Prix, Johann Zarco had a very complicated Sprint due to vibrations on his Honda, but on Sunday he had a calmer race, in which he scored his first points of the year. Although he was satisfied with a 12th place behind Fabio Quartararo, the Frenchman had the satisfaction of seeing how the problem of the day before had almost completely disappeared on Sunday.

“Compared to Saturday, when I said the bike was out of my control, it didn't vibrate on Sunday. So I was able to play my cards a little better,” explained the new LCR rider. Zarco explained that the situation was more controllable thanks to the changes to the setup which offered less grip but more consistency to the Honda's behaviour.

In the press meeting, the rider from Nice declared that he expected to be slower, but that in the end the pace was good. “The idea was to tell ourselves 'ok, let's go slower for the whole race', but we weren't much slower, because we did the whole race in 1'53 medium and high”, he underlined.

Zarco concluded happy to have taken a step forward and to have probably achieved the best possible result, given the current level of his RC213V: “It means that we have understood what we need to do and how to control the bike. After this, we lack top speed and a few tenths per lap, but this will come with time, as we improve the bike.”

“Maybe I could have overtaken Quartararo, that would have been the best possible result, but the The way I controlled the race, what we learned between the Sprint and Sunday, was interesting. I enjoyed riding the bike, that's already positive, and all the information is becoming clearer and clearer,” she continued after finishing the Grand Prix on Sunday.

It will be a long road to return to the top, that of Honda, but the Frenchman is satisfied with having managed to define the basic setup better than in the winter tests, on a bike that leaves him more or less calm despite the current lack of performance . He believes that the House of the Golden Wing is working in the right direction.

“I repeat, it is a satisfaction to score points and start the championship in this way. This weekend created a real base for us, because the examples you get in a sprint race or a long race are very important. During a test, even if you have time to do a long stint, you never have the information of a race. We have to use these races for development, because at the moment we know we are not ready for the podium, but it's clear that this is much better than the project of the last two years,” continued Zarco.

“I'm happy, we've created a real foundation in this weekend. Maybe we did quite a few days of testing, but we had a lot of things to adjust, to find, to try to 'define'. We needed this, to have no crashes and performance with new tires. When the bike engages, there is a way to do something and I did it, even in the Sprint. And in the match I played to the best of my ability.”

Johann Zarco scores his first points of the season.

Photo by: Oro e Oca / Motorsport Images

On Sunday, Zarco was at the center of the battle between the Japanese brands, outside the top 10, but he was also able to analyze the riding of Maverick Vinales from afar, astride an Aprilia that It is currently much more efficient. This showed him the things to improve on the Honda: “We needed this type of race to understand what we can do. In reality, the best reference for us was Viñales, because it was one of the best bikes in Qatar, but he didn't have much confidence, so he missed a bit at the start of both races. At least I managed to keep up with him and then I saw that I couldn't keep up with him. It was the perfect example to understand where I am as a rider, and therefore to give feedback on the level of the bike.”

“As I said, we have concessions, so more tests and more parts to evaluate, and this will be useful. There is a balance in the bike, there are no big secrets but everyone must find this balance and Honda is on the right path”, concluded Zarco, moderately satisfied.