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If someone had predicted to Castrol Honda LCR team owner Lucio Cecchinello that his rider, Johann Zarco, would be in 6th place with 38 points after four of 22 Grand Prixs in the 2025 MotoGP World Championship, the seven-time 125cc GP winner would have probably looked incredulous. Last year, the French rider finished no higher than 17th in the World Championship ,with a total of 55 points in 20 Grand Prixs.
But, now, the 34-year-old veteran from the South of France has reached a 7th, 6th, and even 4th place in the first four Grand Prix races. Zarco only came away empty-handed in Texas: 16th place in the Sprint, only 17th on Sunday, after a crash at the halfway point during a battle against riders like Bezzecchi and Ogura, with a 7th place at stake. The Honda factory rider picked himself up and crossed the finish line in 17th place, two laps down. Lucio Cecchinello felt a certain respect for the tracks in Texas and Qatar, after the first two races on the winding tracks in Buriram and Termas de Río Honda. But the Honda rider's upward trend continued.
Lucio, you probably never, in your wildest dreams, expected that Johann Zarco would arrive at the European opening round in Jerez in 6th place in the World Championship.
"Honestly, Qatar was an important event for us, because we now better understand the true improvements to our bike. I'll try to explain the situation. Today, aerodynamic effects play a key role in competitiveness, for example, in the speed with which riders enter corners. And the Lusail Circuit is a flowing track with many fast corners. Marc Márquez's pole time was an average of 175.2 km/h, because there are no hairpins or stop-and-go corners. And we received important confirmation in Doha that we can get closer to our opponents on tracks like these."
But are you worried about Jerez and Le Mans now, because you'll find a few hairpins or first-gear corners to negotiate there?
"No, no. We had more doubts coming to Qatar because it's a high-speed track. However, we had already tested in Sepang, where we found some hairpin corners. We also tested in Buriram and completed a Grand Prix on that track, which also has some slow one hundred and eighty-degree corners. We also went to Argentina and then Texas where, while top speed is important, there are also some slow corners to negotiate. So,before the Qatar GP, we knew we weren't far behind the competition when it came to slow corners, but we had some doubts about how strong we would be in the high-speed corners in Lusail."
For decades, Honda was known for having the most powerful engines, but they lagged behind in chassis design. In the MotoGP, only Marc Márquez was able to squeeze the maximum out of the RV213V. Did Honda change its approach because of this? How much influence did the new Technical Director, Romano Albesiano, have on this development?
"Honda has never stopped developing the engine. But if you're always looking for more power, you have to find the right compromise between peak performance and rideability. If you want a lot of top speed, you need very good peak power. But, sometimes, the power delivery in exiting corners suffers a bit when you have a lot of power. What Honda has achieved with its recent engine evolutions is having found a very pleasant power delivery in the lower rev range, while maintaining a fairly reasonable top speed. Nevertheless, we're striving to improve the top speed even further. There are two ways to achieve this goal. The engineers strive to increase peak performance without compromising power delivery. And, at the same time, we strive to improve aerodynamic efficiency."
In Doha, Johann Zarco said that he was about 0.2 seconds faster each lap with a slipstream than on his own.
"Yes, we noticed that in the team, too. We can't sugarcoat anything, because the top speed results are always published. The Honda engineers know the reality and are doing everything they can to completely close the gap that exists between us and the best competitors in this category."
If you look at the top speed lists, the Honda riders are usually 8.5 km/h behind the fastest bikes in the competition. And the eight Japanese bikes ended up in the last nine places on these lists.
"I have nothing to add to that. The facts are clear. Top-speed sensors don't lie, and neither does paper. The top speed sensors have the final say. The results reflect reality. I can only congratulate KTM and Ducati, since they currently have the fastest motorcycles. But Honda is taking the situation seriously and is striving to further improve engine performance, with top speed also being partially improved through aerodynamics."
It took Ducati a long time to build a bike that could win everywhere with different riders. The Desmosedici had too much engine power for years after entering the MotoGP World Championship in 2003. Even after Gigi Dall'Igna's arrival in October 2013, it took almost three years for the Desmosedici to win again but, even then, only on high-performance tracks like Spielberg.
"Honda is now taking advantage of the rank-D concessions and testing is ongoing tirelessly. Just this week, Aleix Espargaró and Stefan Bradl tested in Jerez. I don't know exactly if and when new development parts will be available. But I can confirm that Honda is more determined than ever to climb back up in the rankings."
