Between lack of sensations and Honda not evolving, Zarco in the hard in Hungary

“Weekend to forget, I guess.”, it was with these words that Johann Zarco began his traditional post-race press conference on the shores of Lake Balaton in Hungary. He, who has regularly been the best placed Honda rider race after race, the Cannes rider suffered this time, far behind the two official riders, Luca Marini and Joan Mir. If on Saturday, he could do nothing to avoid the fall, hit by the KTM of Enea Bastianini, the number 5 ended up on the ground on Sunday, having lost the front in the very fast turn number 8 of the Hungarian turnstile.

“No points at the end of the weekend, and bad feelings during the three days. It was difficult to accept restarting with a very low level of sensations on the bike, to try to get back on track. It's normal not to be able to do it in one weekend. In the race, we were a little more competitive, because the pace was very similar between all the riders. I couldn't do much more. I benefited from several crashes, so everything was falling into place to score some points, which would have allowed me to finish on a good note. But I crashed at turn 8. I wasn't expecting it, I went on the kerbs, the rear started to move, and I lost the front. I don't know why I lost my rhythm on the bike, but in the last two races I wasn't fast enough to achieve the results I want, which is to stay in the top 10. I hope that in Barcelona I'll find the right feeling again, I can only hope for now because I'm very disappointed to have lost the feeling."

ALSO READ > “Today I recognized myself”: Finally something positive for Bagnaia

Having left Hungary without any additional points, the winner of the French Grand Prix at Le Mans last May admitted that he was looking forward to the Catalan Grand Prix in Barcelona in two weeks. However, he will also not have the new parts used this weekend by the two HRC drivers on Catalan soil.

“By doing a kind of reset, things can settle down. If things go wrong in Barcelona, ​​we will have to accept it again and move on to the next race. I hope it works out in Catalonia because I am used to being fast there. If I return to a decent pace in Barcelona, ​​it means that I have not been able to adapt my riding style to the tracks in Austria and Hungary. I will not have the new parts in Barcelona. I will have a test after the race, to potentially try these new parts, or confirm things on the aerodynamics, but I have to find the solution on my bike for now, because it is the bike I have, and I have to perform with it.”

Zarco no longer benefits as quickly from Honda's developments

Since his triumph at Le Mans, Johann Zarco has made no secret of his desire to join the official HRC team in 2026. This stance may be the cause of a certain drop in form. The Cannes driver believes, in any case, that he no longer has the same equipment as the other two RC213V drivers, and we can sense that this situation is weighing on him during the final race weekends.

“It’s definitely disturbing. I wanted to take a stand because it was important. I’ve wanted to be number 1 for a while and I thought I would be at LCR. Unfortunately, it’s not seen the same way. Can I be number 1 at HRC? I don’t know for now. If I can’t be, I’ll accept it and do my job because we still have real support from Honda. At Luccio, things are going much better than in the past. We’ve had a string of difficult races; there’s a difference with the other bikes; they’re on a roll where they’re working, and that’s positive, while we’re stagnating. Seeing that creates nervousness and tension, and it makes you work less well during the race weekend. It plays a huge role because when you mess up your qualifying, you suffer a lot during the races.”

Zarco then clearly stated that he did not have the same equipment, and was annoyed by the delay in the arrival of new parts for his machine: "Lately there's been a gap. There are parts we've tried that were good, and I haven't benefited from them. There are plenty of other factors, but I don't want to go into detail on that; it's not up to me to do that. We knew we'd have to wait, but lately Team LCR has had to wait longer than Team HRC (for upgrades). And you can lose that momentum of good results over three or four races."

Interview by Luca Bartolomeo, in Hungary.