After another points finish at Phillip Island, Johann Zarco leaves Australia satisfied with the progress he and Honda made over recent months.
“It was impressive pace,” Zarco remarked. “I couldn’t believe what I was seeing on my dash. We did almost the entire race below the 1m29s. I put my full focus on repeating everything I was doing every lap and managed to stay with the guys in front of me.”
The Frenchman is getting more and more to grips with his RC213V. But although making steady progress with his Japanese machine, there is still a lot to work on for Honda.
“The bike still has this limit I’m fighting with, that I cannot turn the bike as I want and control the traction. I need to be very conservative – I lose metres compared to the others, ” he explained.
However, Zarco wasn’t just dwelling on what was lacking. The strides Honda has made since the start of the season have been undeniable. Earlier in the year, it often seemed like the team was “not playing in the same category” compared to their rivals.
The gap has narrowed, and Phillip Island proved that. “Today we were with the others. And we were only 10 seconds from Pecco today, which is positive,” he concluded, acknowledging how far they’ve come.
