“Always good to be the first Honda”: Johann Zarco growing stronger at LCR

Johann Zarco is confident that Honda’s long MotoGP rebuilding process is finally starting to pay off.

The LCR rider heads to this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez on the back of the factory’s best result since Marc Marquez’s departure.

Zarco’s fourth place in Qatar marked the highest Sunday finish for Honda in over a year and continued his strong run of form in 2025, leaving him sixth in the MotoGP world championship and firmly established as the top RCV rider.

“Sure, it’s pretty important,” Zarco said when asked if the results carry extra weight with his contract up at the end of the season - and a potential factory Honda seat opening in 2026.

“I know I’m doing good things with Honda. With where I am in my career, I want to continue with Honda, which will be the best way.

“Also Suzuka [8 Hours] is something that Honda likes, and they see that I’m enjoying it too.

“So yeah, it’s always good to be the first Honda rider, but most of all now to get close to the top guys.

“It’s always warmly welcome the P5 [before Vinales' penalty moved him to 4th]. But to build it from the first race to now, with only one mistake in Austin, it’s positive.”

Zarco now looks ahead to Jerez - where Honda is expected to introduce long-awaited updates, either during the grand prix weekend or post-race test on Monday.

“We’ll see - we have some updates from Honda in Jerez,” he said. “I don’t know if we’ll have them during the race weekend or just for the test.

“But what we want, what the technicians want for a bit, it’s coming now in Jerez. So maybe an opportunity to find a better setup, to get closer.”

Although the RCV’s top speed deficit is well known, the Frenchman pinpointed corner entry performance as a weakness for Honda and one he believes the Jerez layout will expose - but also help address.

“Maybe slowing down on the last part of the corner [entry] is what is still missing for us, and Jerez is typically that,” Zarco explained. “That’s why Pecco is very strong there.

“But now that I know and understand better this characteristic of track and of riding, I hope I will be able to manage the same type of weekend [as Qatar] - looking at the top five or confirming the top ten if other riders are also feeling pretty good.”

Now in his ninth MotoGP season, Zarco says his recent work with Honda has helped him reconnect with a level of control and precision he last felt during his Moto2 championship-winning years.

“I’m changing things and I’m happy that what I wanted to change is starting to pay [off],” he said.

“So it’s a good version of the new things I want to do. Maybe the best version was this feeling of being focused on the line, just repeating what I know - that was the time of Moto2, because I never had this time again in MotoGP.

“And I believe that making a step back with Honda from last year to rebuild something, now I have the opportunity to enjoy even more and see that I’m very close to something… top.”