Johann Zarco’s San Marino Grand Prix ended in disappointment after the Castrol Honda LCR rider crashed with just three laps remaining on Sunday, but the Frenchman had shown encouraging pace throughout the opening two days at Misano.
Zarco made a strong start to the weekend on Friday at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli, consistently featuring near the top of the timesheets from the opening session.
His pace earned him eighth place and a place directly into Q2, giving Honda LCR a positive start to the weekend.
“I’m really pleased to have had the speed from the very first session this morning. We have a good pace, which is a positive, and it allows me to give clear feedback to the crew so we can work in the right direction,” Zarco said on Friday.
Saturday proved more challenging. Zarco qualified 10th and then made a strong start in the Sprint, immediately joining the fight for the points.
However, overnight rain had significantly changed the track conditions between the morning session and the Sprint. Zarco struggled to find the consistency needed to stay in contention for the points and eventually finished 10th.
“I could have done better in qualifying this morning, but I made a mistake and then got a penalty, which I totally accept,” he said.
“I did some good laps, but they were not enough to get into the points. We’ll try again tomorrow.”
Zarco returned to the grid on Sunday determined to make another push for a strong result. He made a solid start and quickly put himself into the fight for the top 10.
However, his race came to an unfortunate end with three laps remaining. Zarco slightly missed his braking point at Turn 8, ran wide and slid into a crash.
The incident was relatively soft, and the Frenchman escaped without injury, but it brought his promising weekend to an early end.
“It’s been a tough weekend considering everything that has happened. I’m pretty fine; it was a soft crash. I went wide and slid, and I couldn’t avoid the crash,” Zarco explained.
Despite the result, Zarco leaves Misano with positive signs from the pace he showed during the opening two days, as Honda LCR continues to build on its progress.
“We’ll try to improve and do better next week!” Zarco added.
