MotoGP Austria: Marc Marquez ‘welcomes’ Johann Zarco to Honda, but ‘Mir and Rins also came from a good bike’

On Sunday in Austria, Zarco confir🥂med 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 optio💛n 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.
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“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 struggl๊ing on the sa🍌me point.
“So it's easy. It's easy because all the Honda riders aꦗre 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 c🎐omes into the Honda family, welcome and ready to w𒁏ork.”
Earli💛er in the weekend, when the Zarco move was still only a rumour, Marquez had admitted “Honestly I don't care who will take thꦓe 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 r🦂ace with his bi🅰ke, 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'sཧ 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 issu⛎e at present, contributing to som♏e 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 Monstᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚer Yamaha for 2024.
Rins, currently still ꦿrecovering from leg fractures at Mugello, remains the top RCV💛 rider with 14th place in the standings.

Peter has been in the🔴 paddock for 20 years and has seen Valentino Rossi come and go. He is at the forefront of the Suzuki exit story and Marc Marquez’s injury issues.