Johann Zarco: ‘A good feeling but not a good answer’
Johann Zarco: ‘I can enjoy on the bike… There's a good feeling but not a good answer with the lap time’.
Johann Zarco heads into his first Honda MotoGP race since 2019 admitting that a top ten finish in this weekend’s Qatar season opener “would be a very good result.
“It's more possible I think in Sprint than in the long race. So we'll try to catch it on Saturday,” explained the former Pramac Ducati race winner.
Pre-season testing at the same Lusail circuit last month finished with the four Honda riders grouped from 17th (+1.2s) to 20th (+1.7s) on the timesheets, headed by the Frenchman.
Zarco, placed at LCR on a two-year HRC contract, said his feeling on the bike is not bad, but confessed that the lap time isn’t coming. However, with so many parts to test, the 33-year-old feels there is plenty of margin to improve the set-up.
“We could confirm a package to start the season,” Zarco said. “So they can homologate the aero package and also there were some big things that we cannot try during a race weekend.
“Then during the Grand Prix we will really push, and be more focused, to do a better lap time and work on some setup.
“But I'm really confident with [Honda] because the feeling on the bike is quite good. I can enjoy on the bike. Just sometimes the lap time is not coming.
“There's a good feeling but not a good answer with the lap time, but at least this helped to keep working well and give the best feedback as possible.
“As I say, really confident with Honda because already from Sepang to Qatar, there were some big changes that were interesting and that's why with the help we have with the [concessions] rules for 2024, we need to be patient because some opportunities will really come.”
Casting his eye outside of Honda, last in the 2023 constructors’ standings, Zarco echoed the thoughts of many in tipping Ducati’s reigning champion Francesco Bagnaia as the clear favourite.
“I’m impressed by the way Pecco is really showing even more speed than last year and impressed by the way he's controlling the situation,” he said.
Free practice in Qatar begins on Friday afternoon.
