Johann Zarco says he was ‘happy’ with his first taste of the Honda RC213-V, with Friday running in Australia the first chance he has had to sample his new machine.
Zarco joined the LCR Honda satellite squad for the final three races of 2019 after being dropped from the factory KTM squad shortly prior to the Aragon event last month as replacement to the injured Takaaki Nakagami, who misses the rest of the year due to having surgery on an injured shoulder.
The Frenchman underwent somewhat of a baptism of fire as FP1 took place in wet conditions, though he impressed with the 13th quickest time- which put him ahead of both team-mate Cal Crutchlow and factory Honda man Jorge Lorenzo.
He was 15th fastest in the bone dry FP2 session, falling behind Crutchlow this time around but still managing an effort two-tenths quicker than Lorenzo.
Zarco admitted he didn’t mind the wet conditions in FP1 as they allowed him “more time to adapt” compared to the drier FP2 in which he took longer to work his way up to a competitive speed.
“It was good to test the bike for the first time in the wet FP1, it wasn’t easy because it was difficult to find confidence in the wet but when it’s raining you go slower so you have more time to adapt to the bike,” explained Zarco.
“I was happy to be careful and have a decent lap time, the afternoon was more difficult as in the first laps I was very slow but I started to find more confidence, and at over 300km/h it’s incredibly special especially at this track because every corner is so fast.
“I’m happy that there is still a lot of room to progress, I just need to remain focussed across the weekend because it’s going to be difficult to find the limit of the Honda.”
He wouldn’t be drawn on a comparison between the RC213-V and his recently vacated KTM RC16 machine though, wanting instead to focus on recovering the confidence lost from his short stay with the Austrian manufacturer.
“I don’t want to compare the two bikes, I want to stay focussed and find the confidence to become not just a good rider but a top rider.”
