VOLUME 56 ISSUE 43 OCTOBER 29, 2019 P49
Zarco's Honda Debut
O
n the eve of his first outing
on a Honda RC213V Mo-
toGP bike in Australia, mercurial
French former Moto2 Champion
Johann Zarco was clear about
one thing: "These three races
[of the 2019 season] might be
my last."
After two strong years and
six podiums with Yamaha,
Zarco switched to KTM, and ran
into stasis. He was unable to
change his smooth style to suit
the aggressive bike, and vice
versa, and after poor results
and several tumbles, he asked
to be released early from his
two-year contract.
The Austrian company let
him go even earlier than he'd
expected, and by the end of
the European season he found
himself without a ride.
Zarco was thought to be
close to signing up as Yamaha's
official test rider when the call
came from LCR Honda team
owner Lucio Cecchinello. Team
regular Takaaki Nakagami was
to miss the last three races for
shoulder surgery, and Zarco
leapt at the chance to go racing
again.
"I took a big risk this summer
stopping my contract," he said.
"Three races is a short future,
but I can face it with a lot of
intensity, so I like it," he said.
Zarco did himself credit
on the 2018 RC213V, and by
Sunday morning was able to
challenge to escape from Q2,
narrowly missing the target. In
the race, he battled throughout
with former KTM teammate Pol
Espargaro, the Spaniard rescu-
ing KTM's honor by beating him
to 12th by a 10th of a second.
Michael Scott
Johann Zarco knows he might be
starting his last MotoGP races, but
he's going all out to impress.
