Luca Marini in Australia with best result of all four Honda riders, but little reward – Johann Zarco amazed by own race pace – Joan Mir annoyed about Michelin
Cautious optimism, but also criticism, can be heard from the Honda camp after the MotoGP weekend of the Australian Grand Prix at Phillip Island. In Saturday’s sprint, Luca Marini finished in 10th place. It was the first top-10 finish for the Italian, who has been riding for the Honda factory team since the beginning of the year, on the RC213V. Unfortunately for Marini, P10 does not score any points in the sprint races.
In Sunday’s Grand Prix, it was once again LCR rider Johann Zarco who achieved the best result of the four Honda riders. The Frenchman finished in P12 after starting from P14.
“The pace was impressive,” says Zarco, amazed: ”I couldn’t believe what I saw on my dashboard. But I actually managed almost every race lap in under 1:29 minutes. I concentrated on driving as consistently as possible and tried to stay with the guys in front of me.”
The LCR Honda rider recalls his race in detail: “Raul [Fernandez] overtook me, he was just faster. ”When Jack [Miller] passed me, I was able to stay with him. Together we caught up with Quartararo.”
Both Miller and Zarco passed the Yamaha rider, who was once again plagued by the problem of his tires not warming up as desired in the early stages of the Australian Grand Prix. Quartararo also struggled with exactly this problem in Indonesia three weeks earlier.
Zarco continues the description of his own race at Phillip Island: “After I passed Quartararo, I wanted to pull out a lead on him and stay with Jack. But then Quartararo came back. That was very impressive. He managed to overtake both me and Jack again. And then he also passed Raul Fernandez.”
Quartararo finished in ninth place with the Yamaha, Fernandez in tenth place with the Trackhouse-Aprilia without a wing, Miller in eleventh place with the KTM and Zarco in twelfth place with the LCR-Honda. “Unfortunately, I couldn’t do any better than my 1:28.7 times, but I’m happy,” said Zarco.
“Our race pace was really impressive. We mustn’t forget that just a few months ago it looked like we wouldn’t be racing in the same category as the others. Now we’re racing with them. And even with ‘Pecco’ [Bagnaia] I only lost ten seconds this time. That’s positive,” Zarco points out.
Luca Marini, who finished Sunday’s race in P14, also speaks of a “satisfying weekend” and of “incredible pace in the race”. The Honda works driver attributes the fact that he did not manage to score more than the two championship points to the hectic start phase. He started from P13, ahead of Zarco.
“The start was a bit chaotic. I lost a few positions because I was pushed to the outside. And because it took a while for the left side [of the rear tire] to warm up, I couldn’t attack right from the start,” said Marini.
“As soon as the rear tire was ready, I managed to set competitive lap times. But by that time, the others were already a bit ahead. Nevertheless, my feeling is getting better with every race. Now I’m really looking forward to the next race. If we look at the overall picture of the season, we have to be satisfied with how far we have come,” Marini summarizes.
Takaaki Nakagami also crossed the finish line at Phillip Island on Sunday. In his case, however, it was P18 and thus a position outside the points. When asked what the biggest problem was for him, the Japanese rider points to “a lack of confidence in the rear tire”.
In contrast, Joan Mir had a blank slate in Australia. The Honda factory rider crashed again on Sunday. At that point, it was the penultimate lap, he was in 18th position and thus still ahead of Nakagami. Mir’s crash happened in turn 4 when he was preparing to attack Aprilia rider Aleix Espargaro.
“I was actually feeling optimistic about this race. Unfortunately, though, I had a problem with an external supplier,” laments Mir. He is not talking about a Honda-specific parts supplier, but MotoGP tire supplier Michelin. The 2020 world champion is reluctant to provide details: ‘Politically speaking, I guess the best thing I can say is that this issue should be investigated.’
