During his four seasons on the Ducati, Johann Zarco has often benefited from a very high-performance bike, even dominant in recent years, which allowed him to stack the podiums and achieve victory at the 2023 Australian GP. But this ideal situation on paper was not idyllic for the Frenchman.
Despite very good results and two seasons finished in the top 5 of the championship, Zarco rarely felt in full harmony with the Italian machine, whose characteristics did not completely match his driving. He could not build a long-term project either, having to deal with one-year contracts which relaunched debates on his presence each year.
This constant need to prove himself contributed to his departure for the Honda of the LCR team, although it was much less efficient. In the summer of 2023, Ducati did not hide its desire to keep Zarco for a year to then bring him into WorldSBK, while the challenge proposed by LCR, with two firm seasons and an optional third, corresponded much more to its desire. to extend the adventure in MotoGP.
From the winter tests, Zarco spoke of “best feelings” on this Honda left behind than on the Ducati which crushed the competition and despite recurring difficulties and timid progress since the start of the season, he recently confided his desire to stay in the long term, with already an eye on 2027 and his new regulations, after the expiry of his current contract.
The RC213V’s current lack of performance inspires more motivation than frustration, allowing Zarco to appreciate the challenge he has embarked on. “Already for me, I am happy to feel that I have taken a second wind which makes me want to do more than two years at Honda”declared the native of Cannes. “Because I like this new mission, even if it is frustrating sometimes, due to the lack of results.”
Zarco is today the best placed Honda driver in the championship and he was able to create, relatively quickly, stronger links than he imagined with the brand, notably by winning the Suzuka 8 Hours on one of his motorcycles this summer: “The Suzuka, which was not planned, which was not even in my head last year, to have done it and to have won it was super cool, it also strengthened the links with Honda I think. “
Johann Zarco won the Suzuka 8 Hours with Teppei Nagoe and Takumi Takahashi
Photo: Kusudo Aki
“As a result, I am motivated to further strengthen the links, more and more, with Honda, because this is what will allow us to build a kind of long-term relationship, and even a little more long-term performance. , whereas I didn’t even have that in mind last year knowing that I was going to Honda.”
“In my head it was already two years ago, but I didn’t know what to expect. I’m in the position of what I could have imagined, that is to say struggling, but in fact with much more motivation and positivity than I could have imagined.”
Zarco is already assured of riding the LCR Honda for at least one more season and plans to discuss an extension with Lucio Cecchinello, his boss, in the first months of 2025: “With Lucio, we have already worked hard on this. As a result, there is my 2025 contract already in place. We can already discuss the future but the future will be discussed more at the beginning of 2025 than at the end of 2024.”
With Basile Davoine
