Johann Zarco’s US MotoGP campaign took an unexpected turn after an early incident with Enea Bastianini, culminating in one of the standout lap times of the race despite a challenging afternoon.
The LCR Honda rider was involved in a collision with Bastianini on the second lap, resulting in a crash at Turn 9. Reflecting on the incident, Zarco explained, “We got through the first lap and were still together in the group. I had already overtaken Moreira and Marini; things were going pretty well. Bastianini seemed to be struggling a bit with the fuel tank, and as Fernandez passed him at Turn 8, I tried to follow. We made contact as he tried to come back, and I fell. It was simply a racing incident—no complaints, these things happen.”
Although his race hopes were dashed, Zarco remounted his bike at the back of the field, anticipating a possible red flag scenario similar to the Moto2 Grand Prix. While that opportunity never materialized, Zarco used the remainder of his race to experiment with traction and power settings, ultimately setting the second-fastest lap of the grand prix—a 2m2.073s on lap 10. This time was not only faster than any lap by race winner Marco Bezzecchi but was also second only to the new lap record held by Aprilia’s Ai Ogura. Notably, Zarco’s lap was 0.4 seconds quicker than the fastest effort from any other Honda rider.
Zarco commented, “I tried to enjoy myself, telling myself it’s a great track and I’m on a great bike. There were some interesting things to learn, especially for the engineers, as I played around with different settings.”
Despite being well off the points and over a minute and a half behind the nearest competitor, Zarco’s pace during that lap was legitimate, with no track limits infringements and no apparent advantage from slipstreaming. The lap featured three of his four best sectors of the race, though Zarco admitted he was unable to replicate the feat, with his next best lap being more than half a second slower. “It’s a sign that it can be done,” he said. “Now it’s about understanding how to repeat it.”
Ultimately, with points out of reach, Zarco retired from the race with two laps remaining. Luca Marini finished as the top Honda rider in ninth place.
