Honda hasn’t been going through the easiest of the times but for 2024 it will count with the valuable help from Johann Zarco to continue it’s path to the top again. The rider heads to Qatar with more work to do, saying he has to decide the aero package for the new season and hoping to ride among… the ten fastest.
The french had good feelings in the latest test at Sepang and wants to continue on the same path: ‘I’m happy to be back on the back and continue the work. The feeling we had in Sepang was great and we could play on the bike which is nice even if we still aren’t at the top or thinking about a podium fight’.
He then spoke about his goals for the work in Lusail, aiming to be inside the top ten fastest riders on the track: ‘For these two days of tests the goal is to choose the right aerodynamic package for the bike, then for the homologation and then to start the season in two weeks. Plus on my side I would like to perform a good lap time, to be maybe with the top ten, because I am sure the bike can really do it, as the new bike has the performance to go very fast’.
And continued, saying he wants to be some sort of an outsider: ‘So at least I want to use this potential and then, after using it, think about race pace, yeah, how can I say it… like a challenger. Take the performance and see the rest’.