Twelfth, fifteenth and twenty-second. Johan Zarco’s start to the MotoGP season with LCR Honda is not exactly great. The French driver, who fell during the last two sprint races, returned to the reasons for his difficult start to the year.
The new tires to blame?
“The bike has changed so much… Yes, that can give references, but the project is really different. I can’t go into details but the bike is not the same, it’s really not the same. It was more efficient on circuits, even here in Jerez (Spain) in testing it was better, but in the last two races it was worse”explained Zarco, in comments relayed by Motorsport.com before the Spanish Grand Prix, which takes place this weekend of April 27 and 28.
“With everything that has been done, we feel that, sometimes, the bike is settling, and it is almost at the moment when we accelerate again that the bike is no longer going. We can’t go back to last year’s bike, because it wasn’t right either “, he continued.
Another point mentioned: the grip of the LCR Honda tires. “The Michelin tire has evolved and has a new construction. It is very similar to last year but for a lot of teams, it brought vibrations. For us, it’s more, and we can’t manage them yet. There is a sort of gain in grip on the angle, but that creates problems”slips Zarco.
However, the latter told us in April that this new project with Honda (he is a defector from Ducati-Pramac) was mainly long-term. We should therefore not expect miracles during the upcoming race this weekend in Spain.
