Johann Zarco has announced that he has joined LCR Honda for the final three races of the 2019 MotoGP season with the express intention of being promoted to the Repsol Honda ride instead of Jorge Lorenzo, only to be snubbed in favor of Alex Marquez will.
The Frenchman was a free agent before joining the Honda satellite team after his contract with KTM was prematurely terminated. Zarco was called up to replace the injured Takaaki Nakagami on a year old Honda RC213V.
At a time when Lorenzo was struggling with the factory Repsol Honda versus Marc Marquez, Zarco took LCR Honda’s chance after realizing there could be an opening with the factory team should the three-time world champion choose to leave early.
His prediction proved correct when Lorenzo quit at the 2019 final in Valencia and Zarco opened the door to theoretically take his place.
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His hopes would ultimately be dashed, however, when Zarco admitted the wind had changed ahead of a “strange Sunday” when it became clear that Repsol Honda would instead sign Alex Marquez alongside his brother for the 2020 MotoGP season.
“I had the opportunity to drive the Honda. I could see that Jorge was out of sync and although I didn’t know what his future would be, I set out to play that card, ”he said. “When he called the press conference in Valencia to announce his resignation, I naturally thought it looked pretty good.
“But at the weekend the wind changed and a lot was turned upside down. It was also a strange Sunday because I already knew that I had very few chances. “
Johann Zarco’s attitude will cost him the best MotoGP ride of 2020?
Although Honda has diverted the discussion of why Zarco wasn’t considered for the 2020 Repsol ride and instead focused on the positives of signing a Moto2 World Champion, other riders in the paddock have likely answered that question for them.
The Frenchman’s time at KTM was followed by constant criticism of the motorcycle, which in turn led the Austrian company to direct its own criticism of his driving performance and attitude directly against him.
Aleix Espargaro (brother of Zarco’s former KTM teammate Pol) even went so far as to say that he doesn’t deserve a good ride because of his “unprofessional” work ethic.
It didn’t help that Zarco was openly negative about Avintia Ducati at the time before deciding to join the team, saying he’d rather be in Moto2 than join an uncompetitive team. He then seemed to distance himself from the Spanish team when it was confirmed that he would actually join for 2020, saying he only sees himself as a Ducati rider.
Zarco says it was Ducati that convinced him to join Avintia based on a new “satellite” status that brings it to essentially the same status that Pramac Racing had a few years ago *.
“Ducati called me on Monday [after the race] say, “We need to talk”. We had several meetings where they explained to me what they would provide me and they convinced me. That gave me confidence!
“They told me that the Avintia team was going to completely change its status. And then, for my part, I’d have the chance to try again to compete for the top 7 or 10, stick with Ducati who then deserve it, and ride even better bikes in the near future, with podiums maybe being the i – The icing on the cake is cake. “
* Pramac Racing will host two current Ducati models for 2020 for the first time in the next season, which will essentially be an extension of the factory Ducati Corse outfit.
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