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Johann Zarco had ended the 2023 season with fifth place in the standings and a comeback victory at Phillip Island, against the elements and to the detriment of his then teammate Jorge Martin. A few months later, since his arrival on a Honda in Lucio Cecchinello's LCR team, the situation is far more complex. With his nine championship points, the French rider is the second Honda in the standings behind brand mate Joan Mir. That Honda, especially after Marc Marquez's farewell, is facing a difficult period is well known, as are the efforts put forth by the Japanese manufacturer in an attempt to get back on track by putting everything back on the table. In this puzzle, Zarco's experience can certainly play a key role in finding the lost direction.
Honda is facing a difficult time, but it is fighting back. Now contrary to the past it has put all its riders on the same level.
"When I signed last year it was a challenge, " Zarco explains , "I knew it would be difficult so I'm not surprised. I thought at the beginning of the year with the feelings I had about the bike that we would take a step forward but it looks like we will have to wait. When you see the commitment from Honda, from the engineers, as in the other brands for that matter, it makes you believe it can work. There have been a lot of changes at Honda, so maybe there has been a step back to make a big leap forward. I hope that will be the case, I personally see it that way. I had a great time in Ducati but that chapter has now been written. To continue with Ducati would have been a career end that would have come sooner than what I actually wanted. If I had gotten out of MotoGP, even if I had found something and done a great 2024, it would have been difficult to get back in. So I also took a small step back, but one that I hope will allow me to do great things later on."
Lucio Cecchinello also expects a big leap forward for Honda at the end of the season. He pointed out that in the past Honda was built around Marc Marquez, with a lot of weight on the front, a problem that they are now trying to balance.
"Technically that's the case, but I don't want to go into too much technical detail, because if it were that simple we would have already found the solution. There is also the regulation to consider, although it is more open for the Japanese, we can't do everything at once. So the clock is ticking and nothing seems to be changing. Of course it is true that Marc is so incredible that he is able to adapt to so many problems, yet even he was eventually tired of having to compensate. So he left, he must have thought, "I have no more time to lose." In a way maybe his grit didn't help the project grow, because when something works for the strongest rider ... when you understand how the Japanese reason, you understand why they didn't want to change so as not to disturb the balance that had been created, only that balance had already been lost."
Did you expect Marquez to be so competitive on the Ducati in so few races?
"In truth I expected him to be even stronger, then I realized that he also needed time to adapt. I thought he would fly around killing the competition, and instead Pecco showed that he is still the rider who handles the Ducati best, and he does it with a very clean and precise style. Seeing that Marc has this need to adapt gives me confidence, because when I say I have to adapt to something I see that even the strongest has to do it, even if he does it faster than me. This motivates me and makes me realize that on every bike there are things to understand."
The common opinion is that you are also a very good test rider, how is your relationship with the Japanese?
"With them I have a relationship only on Sunday night when we have the meeting with the engineers. During the weekend I talk to my technical staff who are purely European so I am used to working with them naturally. Then when you talk to the Japanese you have to be as clear as possible, because they have a slightly different way of understanding things and you have to give them a clear guideline to follow."
You've been famous for backflips in your leathers since your Moto2 days. Here there is a CBR1000R , have you thought about a continuation of your career in Superbike as well?
"No, I have a lot of fun in MotoGP. The level so high in MotoGP fills me with excitement, to continue to grow as a rider I want to be the one to keep up with MotoGP. For me it remains 'the category,' and it's also my category, I have a good time. Then I also have fun on the CBR, I like to balance it and do quality training on it. I'll be participating in the Suzuka 8 Hours soon, so I'll have my share of fun with the CBR in endurance, which are less demanding races than Superbike where in the top 5 they go really hard."
Surely the engineers will also ask you something about the CBR, there by the way the tyres are different.
"Exactly, we know that the tyres change a lot the balance of the bike. I think both I and the engineers will be very curious about that."
So we're waiting for your backflip at the Suzuka 8 Hours?
"Yes, that's the earliest we can hope to see it, " the Frenchman joked.
