Johann Zarco sees "positive signs" despite his crash during the GP of the Americas

The general classification of the season of MotoGP echoes Johann Zarco's excellent start to the season: the Frenchman is in 7th place, tied with Ai Ogura, 6th. Both men are the best non-Aprilia riders since the start of the year. Another thing in common is that they both represent satellite teams: the Japanese is stunning on the Trackhouse Aprilia, while the Frenchman is once again the best of the four Honda riders in the colors of LCR, Lucio Cecchinello's team.

Yet, in Texas, nothing was easy for Johann Zarco. After his superb 3rd place in qualifying in Argentina, the former Ducati Pramac rider was still ambitious, but his weekend got off to a bad start with a crash in practice that deprived him of a direct passage to Q2. Zarco, unable to escape from Q1, had to settle for 15th place on the grid, a result far from his objectives.

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No points on Sunday, but positive for Zarco

From then on, scoring big points seemed compromised, in both the Sprint and the Grand Prix, and this was confirmed in the first race of the weekend (16th). However, the changes made during the night paid off on Sunday, where Zarco set the third fastest time in the Warm-Up to build confidence for the race. In conditions he likes, the Frenchman took advantage of a track that was still slightly damp to move up. Like Marc Marquez, he decided to change bikes just before the start to start on slick tires. “Ultimately, it was a good decision to start on slicks. The start of the race was crazy! I didn't expect the track to dry so quickly, but luckily we were ready and were able to make the switch. " explains Zarco after the chaos of the start, where all the riders changed bikes just before the lights went out.

The Frenchman led an attacking race, moving up to 6th place before losing some pace. Following a close battle with Fermin Aldeguer, Zarco crashed and gave up any hope of scoring points. Despite this, the LCR Honda rider wanted to look at the positives. I'm happy to have made a step forward between yesterday and today, which allowed us to push and get the performance we needed. That's really important. As for the crash, I lost the rear of the bike. Overall, the main thing is that we were competitive and received positive signs. I'm happy with the progress we're making, and I want to thank the team for their hard work."

Next stop for Johann Zarco and LCR Honda: the Qatar GP (April 11-13), where the Frenchman finished 2nd in 2021.

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