MotoGP | Zarco: “It's a good time to join Honda”

Johann Zarco, Alex Rins' replacement in Lucio Cecchinello's team after the Spaniard signed with Yamaha, finished in third position in the shakedown that took place this weekend in Sepang. The three days of collective testing will then begin on Tuesday, again on the Malaysian track.

Leaving Pramac, where he had an official Desmosedici, to join Honda's satellite team, which until recently treated LCR more like a simple customer than an ally, didn't seem like the best move in the world. However, this inertia which had gradually made Rins impatient – “I feel not considered” he tired of repeating – to the point of making him accept Yamaha's offer without thinking twice, seems to have experienced a substantial change in view of 2024. It is probably a consequence of the arrival of Shin Sato, the technical director of the project replacing Shinici Kokubu.

“In the end it seems like I'm coming to Honda at a good time. Everything works fine. I wanted to face a challenge with the intention of growing as a person, focusing on the positive aspects because I thought you had to suffer a lot. But, fortunately, I think I can have fun and not be too worried”, summed up the Frenchman today, full of photos and promotional meetings in Sepang.

In his eighth season in MotoGP, Zarco knows that it will be practically impossible to match the fifth finishing position of 2023, the year in which he also took his first victory (Australia). After three years on a Ducati, his second experience on the RC213V could not have been more positive, especially if we take into consideration the fact that he was able to compare the two specifications of the 2024 prototype with those that Honda is working with.

“I was happy with the treatment that Ducati gave me in Pramac, now I have the same feeling with Honda, with Cecchinello. I think that things have moved in Honda to change their focus,” the Nice native continued, surprised by the time trial which saw him in third position. “You are happy when you see that time, more or less, comes out. I didn't expect it. The things that Honda is bringing seem to work and this is positive if we take into consideration that we are at the beginning of this project,” he concluded.