Johann Zarco sees the light at the end of the tunnel: "It is possible to be fast on the Honda"

Although Johann Zarco crashed on the second lap of the United States Grand Prix, the Frenchman didn't give up on the race. Initially, he hoped for a safety car period to give him a second chance, but seeing no red flag in sight, he chose to continue his laps.

During a sometimes difficult start to the season with Honda, the Cannes native thus accumulated a maximum of data to allow his engineers to pinpoint his problems at the handlebars of the RC213V, and the assessment that the person concerned draws from what is more like a test session is rather positive.

"I've done some good laps, he told the press on Sunday afternoon. I did a really good one, I really don't know how it came out, but it came out. So those are the positives from today. It just confirmed that there is a way to go fast, but we have a very small window to do it. So when you do everything right, it's there. And we need to widen that window to help the driver repeat good laps.

His crash, which occurred after contact with Enea Bastianini in turn 8, did not anger him: “I saw Bastianini go a bit wide, I came into turn 8. I wasn’t expecting to overtake him in turn 8. But I think he might have been surprised too. I was completely leaned wide and the moment I made contact, the rear lost traction. It’s really just racing contact. There’s no reason for me to complain about him. He was overtaken by Raul Fernandez, so it’s normal that he went a bit wide.”

Two beneficial weekends for Johann Zarco

After Austin, the paddock will take a three-weekend break, an extended absence from the track due to the postponement of the Qatar Grand Prix to the end of the season. Analyzing his start to the campaign, and more specifically the first back-to-back races in Brazil and then Texas, Johann Zarco is displaying a certain optimism.

“I’m very happy with Brazil. Very happy,” He insists. Brazil did me a lot of good. Here in Austin, I think it's always a difficult track, like every year for me. But I tried to approach it a little differently. And ultimately, with a different approach, it wasn't any less good. It wasn't any worse. I took this race as an experience to learn how to manage the bike, what I can do on the bike, to give myself some tools for the next races. Hopefully, it will be useful.

The next round of the world championship MotoGP will take place in Jerez at the end of April, during the Spanish Grand Prix. This event will precede the French MotoGP Grand Prix, held on May 10th at the Bugatti circuit in Le Mans.

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