Marc Marquez ‘welcomes’ Zarco, but ‘Mir and Rins also came from a good bike’

On Sunday in Austria, Zarco confirmed that he is leaving Pramac Ducati at the end of this season and will move to LCR Honda.

The Honda deal has not been officially announced but Zarco explained that it is for two seasons, with a further option for 2026.

With Ducati only offering a single-year extension, and the possibility he might be moved from Pramac to another satellite team, the 33-year-old has opted to join Marquez, Joan Mir and Takaaki Nakagami in trying to bring Honda back to the front of the field.

“It’s another rider with a good experience and especially he’s riding the best bike of the grid right now,” Marc Marquez said.

• Binder to Bagnaia: “You bastards did something on the start!”
• Johann Zarco explains LCR move: ‘Honda has the power to come back'
• Penalty delay confuses riders, teams: ‘Fabio was penalised but Martin wasn‘t?'

“Of course, he will give us some good comments to the engineers, but we are in a moment where all of the [Honda] riders are struggling on the same point.

“So it's easy. It's easy because all the Honda riders are going in one direction. It's not like one is struggling on one point and the other is struggling on another point.

“But if he comes into the Honda family, welcome and ready to work.”

Earlier in the weekend, when the Zarco move was still only a rumour, Marquez had admitted “Honestly I don't care who will take the other Honda in LCR”.

The eight-time world champion had also pointed out that Mir and Alex Rins brought a lot of experience from another manufacturer when they arrived from Suzuki this season.

“This year we have two riders, one was Rins, that won the last race with his bike, the Suzuki, and Mir was fighting always in the top five before the injury, so we have two good riders that are coming from a good bike,” Marquez said.

“So in the end, the thing is that it's not like it's one comment from one rider and a [different] comment from the other rider [about what to improve]. All of the [Honda] riders have the same comment, so we need to find a way to improve this weak point.”

Rear grip is considered the RCV's biggest issue at present, contributing to some of the highside injuries suffered by all of its riders this season. But solving it is proving a tough task.

Marquez finished his first Sunday race of the year, in twelfth, with Honda now joint last on points with Yamaha in the constructors’ standings.

Zarco will take the place of Alex Rins, who is switching to Monster Yamaha for 2024. 

Rins, currently still recovering from leg fractures at Mugello, remains the top RCV rider with 14th place in the standings.