Zarco sees a “logical” promotion if it remains first Honda driver

Johann Zarco is making no secrets of his ambitions at a time when behind the scenes of the Grands Prix are organizing discussions for the future. The fact is that the Honda factory team has only one pilot assured to be in office next season, Luca Marini being under contract until the end of this year. This arouses hopes, especially for those who are currently the most efficient in the group.

Arrived in the LCR team last year, Zarco has particularly adapted himself well to the Honda to the point that he is the one who ranked best in the championship from his first season. It was also he who signed the best raw performance: a seventh place in qualifying and three entries in the top 10 in sprint and race.

At the start of the championship, rebelote! And while remaining a leader of the Honda quartet, Zarco evolves above in the hierarchy. After five Grands Prix, he currently occupies the seventh place in the general classification and has already won the top 10 in five times between the sprints and the long races disputed so far. We saw him rank fourth in the Argentinian sprint and also obtain the same place at the arrival of the GP in Qatar. In qualifying, he even entered the Termas of Río Hondo Termas.

“I would love to be the only non-ducati pilot to hinder them”, Smiles Johann Zarco in an interview for the official MotoGP website. “Start my second year with Honda and LCR with a advanced result, better than what you can expect, I think it gives everyone to joy. And then it also boosts the motivation to be able to believe in better things.”

“Argentina’s race, it was Wow! But then, Qatar was another confirmation that, when things go well, you can feel the scent of the podium”, continues the French pilot. “I really hope that the podium can be won in the near future. I thought we were very far from it, but when I do the shopping and that I manage to feel the podium, I tell myself that, perhaps, we are closer than what I thought.”

Given this thunderous start to the year, Johann Zarco now hopes to have his chances of joining the official team, a promotion that would have a certain “logic” in his eyes in view of the current classification. With his 43 points, he clearly precedes Luca Marini (12th with 32 points) and Joan Mir (18th with 11 points).

“The official handlebars in the Honda factory team is something possible”, he observes. “My relationship with Lucio Cecchinello and the LCR team is very good too. Having all my chances in terms of equipment and parts as a factory driver in the LCR team, it is also a very good privilege. This factory handlebar is always a dream for a pilot and something important in a career too.”

“You have to talk about it. If I remain the first Honda driver, it can be logical that I am going”, Adds Johann Zarco about the manufacturer’s official team.

“Like a factory driver” with CSF

However, even integrated into LCR, French feels perfectly involved in current development efforts. “Given the way Honda works, with the LCR team I am like a factory driver because I had the same chances of showing myself efficient as those that the pilots had [de l’équipe] factory. And when you have updates, they organize them for at least three motorcycles. We try things to carry out development all together. “

“What we have to improve is the top speed, the power of our engine because in the race, it is hard to exceed or keep a position when you lose time in a straight line. But where you have progressed a lot, I think, it is in the driving of the motorcycle, in the fact that it is natural.”

“The work done by Honda is quite impressive. It is enough to see how many people are involved in the challenge. Confidence and feeling with the Japanese improve, they make me more and more confidence. It is also a very important relationship to build this confidence.”