Alex Rins jokes “I’m so angry!” as Zarco ends Honda win drought
Alex Rins jokes about Johann Zarco taking his Honda MotoGP victory record after Le Mans win.
Ever since April 2023, Alex Rins has held the record as Honda’s last MotoGP race winner.
The Spaniard achieved the accolade, in only his third RCV event, in the Grand Prix of the Americas.
Rins badly fractured his leg three rounds later, at Mugello, and finished just one more grand prix for LCR before moving to Monster Yamaha.
With Marc Marquez also leaving Honda at the end of the 2023 campaign, Rins' COTA victory remained Honda’s most recent MotoGP win until LCR successor Johann Zarco stormed to a shock victory at Le Mans on Sunday.
Asked if he had any words for LCR, Rins joked: “I'm so angry! Johann took my last [Honda] victory record! It's all I can say!”
Rins, who finished the dry-wet race in twelfth, grinned: “No, I'm really so happy for Lucio. So happy for all the guys, all the mechanics.”
After the podium celebrations, Zarco revealed: “Rins came to me and said, ‘You stole the last victory of Honda from me!’
“When he told me that, I was kind of proud because I didn’t realise it straightaway.”
With LCR now claiming the two most recent Honda wins, the last victory for the factory team dates back to Marquez’s victory at Misano in 2021.
Honda’s return to the top step also ended a record-equalling 22-race Grand Prix win streak for Ducati.
Aprilia’s most recent MotoGP victory came at COTA in 2024 with KTM's last GP win at Buriram in 2022.
Yamaha - on pole with Fabio Quartararo in the dry at Le Mans - also took its most recent victory in 2022, at the Sachsenring.
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