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In the Barcelona tests, in addition to the many team and rider changes, there was also a lot of anticipation in seeing if Honda would make any further progress after another season spent on the backburner. The big Japanese manufacturer did not seem to produce much excitements for the riders, Joan Mir in fact said he was disappointed by the absence of anything new of depth. Johan Zarco, who set the best time among the Hondas on Tuesday with the 10th chrono, on the other hand sees the glass half full, avoiding thinking too far ahead for the moment and leaving the technical headaches to the engineers to focus on his own riding style.
"It was a positive test day," explained the Frenchman, "although the conditions were good in the morning I was more cautious, having also seen some crashes at Turn 5. We managed to work well, we tried some new components on the new bike, but the response was not very positive. It's still information on which direction not to take ahead of February. I had a good time getting on the new bike, I also worked on my riding style while trying to take the bike to the limit, all by doing short rides, but with quality laps. Overall it was a positive test day, but to know the direction Honda wants to push in the near future we will have to wait for the end-of-test meeting."
Did you expect anything more?
"We will analyze the data to take stock of the situation, although I think we will not follow the direction taken today. I think one of the important points will be to work on the engine, we need power to fight on the straight and gain some positions in the braking points. The weak point remains grip control at the rear wheel, in that aspect we haven't found a solution yet. That would help us in acceleration but also in braking. Now we will have tests in Jerez next week, the aerodynamics should take another step forward but we will see it next year, while on the chassis there have been small improvements but they have not made a big difference."
You also worked on weight distribution, did it have a positive impact?
"Actually instead of improving our weak points, it took away what was positive. This information is still valuable, I am not stressed about it because we were not much slower, but compared to the Ducatis there is still a lot to do and the next step will have to be a more concrete improvement in terms of lap times. But for me it was a positive day of testing as said, all the information we got will be useful for the engineers to work on for the next tests."
What were the initial goals of these tests?
"I don't want to go into too much technical detail, we still don't have a clear answer from the track times. In this regard I am not worried, when you make a mistake you know you will not repeat it. The meeting will be important to understand the next steps, we have not tried the new engine, I think we will see it in the next tests."
Do you think the lack of grip is more of a mechanical or electronic problem?
"Hard to say for sure, I myself am still learning some things. Sometimes I think the improvement should come from the mechanical side, but then I find that some changes to the electronics can help us go in the direction we want, or a combination of the two. It's interesting to understand this dynamic as a rider, but I can't give an answer at the moment."
It has not been an easy season, but you have also made progress as a rider. What was the lesson you learned this year?
"Even in difficult times you can work on yourself. When you do that you can also make better use of the bike. You no longer get lost in technical comments, the technical part is for the engineers not for the riders. What I often tell myself is that if even the best Japanese engineers can't find solutions right away, neither can we as riders. We are no better than the engineers, and clearly we are less intelligent! - he went on jokingly - this has been one of the lessons, and I'm glad I'm just a rider!"
This year we may have seen the best Zarco in years. Were there times when he suffered from impatience to want to produce results?
"No, I think I still have a lot to learn. I didn't make the most of the Ducati in the past, Martin and Pecco did. Bezzecchi did it better than I did in 2023. So I had to change some things, in some of them I already did this year and thanks to Honda and the lack of results I could work and improve not having the same pressure on me. But I feel I still have room to improve as a rider, I live it as a personal challenge. If everything flows in the right direction, I'm pretty sure we can get results, I'll be very happy to be that Honda rider back on the podium."
