ZARCO LEADS HONDA IN QATAR WITH FIFTH-PLACE SPRINT FINISH

Johann Zarco again led Honda’s charge at the Qatar MotoGP round, but the LCR rider said Friday’s pace left him with work to do ahead of qualifying.

A year earlier, Zarco had shown the RC213V’s progress at the desert circuit, running regularly inside the top eight before finishing fifth in the Grand Prix. He had crashed in the sprint, while a post-race penalty for Maverick Viñales lifted Zarco to fourth in the final classification.

This time, Zarco opened with 10th in FP1, the best result among the Hondas. He was surprised by the gap to the front: Marc Márquez set the benchmark, 1.086 seconds ahead. “I had hoped we would start with less of a deficit,” Zarco said, adding that the first three riders were “clearly faster” than he had expected.

He moved closer in the evening session, ending eighth in the timed practice, 0.895 seconds off the pace. Ducati riders Fabio Di Giannantonio and Márquez, along with Aprilia’s Marco Bezzecchi, remained out of reach.

Zarco said his first qualifying-style run felt promising and produced a 1:51.3, quicker than his timed-practice lap the previous year, though still two tenths shy of his Q2 benchmark. The second attempt proved more difficult. “I thought it would be very hard to improve, even though the potential was there,” he said. “I made mistakes myself, and in that pressure the opportunity was gone.” Failing to improve could have put his place in Q2 at risk, he noted, but he was fortunate to stay in the top 10.

For qualifying, Zarco wants to build greater confidence in the bike. “I’m satisfied with the performance so far, and I’ll try to repeat it in Q2,” he said. But extracting the full potential of Honda’s package remains demanding, particularly in a tightly packed field. He described the RC213V as “very demanding” and said there was still room to improve his feeling with it.

Zarco finished three tenths ahead of Honda teammate Luca Marini, who, like rookie Diogo Moreira and replacement rider Jake Dixon, was set to contest Q1. Once again, the responsibility of keeping Honda’s flag flying rested with the French veteran.

After qualifying seventh, Zarco carried that form into the sprint, finishing fifth. He acknowledged that crashes by Francesco Bagnaia and Bezzecchi, who had both been ahead of him, helped his result. The race was interrupted, and Zarco said the restart worked in his favour: “The first start wasn’t so good, the second was very, very good.” He was pleased to regain his concentration, recalling Catalunya briefly, but said he was pain-free and had no trouble restarting.

Zarco was surprised to find himself matching the top three early on and considered attacking Di Giannantonio for third, but did not want to risk a mistake. Later, Raul Fernandez passed him at Turn 12, forcing Zarco to pick up his bike. He then spotted Pedro Acosta and briefly feared another rider was about to fly over him. Acosta was farther away than he had thought and had the situation under control; Zarco lost some time but held position.

The sprint result left him happy, though he doubts he can sustain that pace over the full Grand Prix distance. “In the first laps with fresh tyres my speed is very high, good enough to run in the top five,” he said. But that pace uses a lot of energy and puts too much strain on the rear tyre. “I still have no idea how that will work in the GP.”