The French driver made no secret of it, he expected his season with Honda to go even worse than what he experienced in 2024. If his place as the best representative of the Japanese brand in the championship n t's not such a big surprise, given his quality of analysis and development of a particularly restive machine this year. Johann Zarco beat his teammate Takaaki Nakagami and the two official Hondas of Joan Mir and Luca Marini.
When taking stock of his first season with Lucio Cecchinello's team, the double Moto2 World Champion was more satisfied than he could have expected after his first ride on the Honda RC213V in Valencia, in November 2023, a few days after the last Grand Prix of the season.
“I come out much more happy and motivated than I would have thought last year”he explained. “I was afraid of sinking, and not at all, it’s quite the opposite. It was a mission and a personal challenge that I wanted to do after having missed it in 2019 with KTM. I opened some really interesting new doors for myself. Fortunately we improved at the end of the year, otherwise it would have been really difficult. I had announced that I wanted to finish in the top 10 and I couldn't even get into the points. So we should have lowered the objectives, but being able to obtain what I basically wanted at the end of the season did me a world of good. I am gaining Honda's trust little by little. Once it is won, it can last as long as I remain efficient. »
A hard tire that did not bring satisfaction
In this last game of the 2024 season, the No. 5 was slightly disappointed with his choice of rear tire. Zarco had in fact tried to fit the hardest tire in the range offered by Michelin, in order to make a comeback at the end of the race, facing competitors who started on soft or medium. Unfortunately, the hard tire did not perform as well as expected at the end of the event.
“At the rear, the hard tire did not provide any advantage at the end of the race, because it declined in performance almost at the same time as the soft tire. I tried to do everything as best I could, but I had no way of keeping pace at the start. It's a shame because it started very well, and it ended better than since the start of the season, but I lost too much time at the start of the race to fight for a place in the top 10. It was worth the try. , because if it had been the opposite situation I would have made a superb comeback at the end of the race. »
Martín World Champion: “It’s good like that”
After spending three seasons with the Pramac team with Jorge Martín as a teammate, Johann Zarco was obviously happy to see the Spaniard triumph this Sunday, and become MotoGP World Champion, the first to achieve this feat with a independent team since Valentino Rossi in 2001.
“It’s great for him, great for Pramac. That's what I wanted and I'm happy it turned out that way. He managed it very well, that’s how it should be done. Pecco performed well in the last three races, but unfortunately he was behind. It's good like that. »
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