LCR Honda has formally confirmed Johann Zarco will join its team for the 2024 and 2025 MotoGP World Championship following a fortnight of speculation.
An announcement that has been anticipated since Zarco confirmed he will be parting ways with Pramac Racing at the end of the 2023 MotoGP season, the Frenchman will replace Alex Rins and is set to partner Takaaki Nakagami next year.
“We are very excited to welcome Johann to the LCR Honda Castrol team with all the respective details and signatures now in place.
“It is a return to the team after we had some brief time together in 2019, where we could already see his potential and work ethic.
“There are still a lot of races and work to be done this season, but we are looking forward to the start of this new project in 2024.”
Arriving in the satellite Honda squad after four seasons spent with Ducati, Zarco is set to make one of the more intriguing moves when the off-season rolls around.
Indeed, by leaving Ducati’s primary satellite team, Zarco vacates one of the more competitive seats on the grid in favour of throwing his leg over the Honda RC213V, a machine that has been broadly panned by even the manufacturer’s own riders.
However, Zarco says he is motivated by the challenge of leading a return to form for Honda and believes he has the experience necessary in order to do that.
“It’s quite good to project yourself and, as a sportsman, do the best you can,” he told the MotoGP website. I know myself when I’m on the bike, I give a lot and I can give good information.
“Even if they are struggling now and they don’t have the winning bike right now, they are still Honda and they have the power to come back if they find the right way for the development.
“So I will be the most proud if I can be part of this and very glad if I can perform.”
The new deal actually marks a return of sorts for Zarco after joining the team for the latter rounds of the 2019 MotoGP season as a substitute for the injured Nakagami. The three-race outing came in the wake of his gnarly split from KTM mid-way through his first season with the Austrian manufacturer.
