LCR rider Johann Zarco thinks Honda have one clear ‘disadvantage’ after what he saw at the Thai Grand Prix

Add as preferred source on Google

Johann Zarco secured his best result for LCR Honda to date at the Thai Grand Prix but he left the 2025 season-opener feeling the RC213V bike still has a key ‘disadvantage’.

Buriram welcomed the premier class back to begin the 2025 MotoGP season having staged a two-day pre-season test. Zarco enjoyed a topsy-turvy test with the seventh-best time on Day One but just the 16th-best on Day Two, which he used to help achieve P12 in qualifying.

Factory Honda star Joan Mir would best Zarco in both qualifying (P11 by 0.187 seconds) and the Sprint Race at the 2025 Thai Grand Prix (in P9 and P10 with a 0.756s gap). The LCR ace would hit back in the main race as Zarco ended the Thai GP as the best Honda pilot, though.

Zarco secured P7 at Buriram last Sunday to register his best result to date on the Honda bike after setting his previous best for LCR in October at the 2024 Thai GP with P8. The 34-year-old returned to LCR ahead of the 2024 campaign following three outings at the end of 2019.

LCR rider Johann Zarco thinks the Buriram heat hurt Honda’s engine in the Thai Grand Prix

Marc Marquez won the 2025 Thai GP on his Ducati debut as the Bologna Bullets got the top four places. Francesco Bagnaia was the filling in a sandwich with Gresini’s Alex Marquez and VR46’s Franco Morbidelli ahead of Trackhouse gem Ai Ogura and Aprilia’s Marco Bezzecchi.

Zarco’s P7 meant he was the top Honda over factory star Luca Marini in P12, plus LCR rookie Somkiat Chantra in P18 at the 2025 Thai GP. Factory Honda pilot Mir crashed out of the Thai GP on Lap 15 of 26, but the 2020 champion was in the mix to get a possible top seven result.

READ MORE: Everything to know about Johann Zarco from career stats to net worth

Yet despite the promise that Zarco and Mir showed at the Thai GP, the Cannes native still left Buriram feeling Honda have a distinct ‘disadvantage’ to Ducati, Aprilia and KTM. He feels the Japanese brand’s engine is still not as strong as their rivals’, especially in the hot conditions.

“We have no idea,” Zarco said about a potential engine upgrade from Honda, via quotes by Paddock-GP. “I think, here, it was more difficult for us because it seems that in Malaysia our engine was better than here in Thailand.

“So, maybe the heat was more disadvantageous for us than for the other brands. So, we will see in a place where the temperature is normal if we can make up for this disadvantage.”

Factory Honda rider Joan Mir crashed out of the Thai GP due to the heat at Buriram

Zarco told Honda they can find ‘three tenths’ of a second per lap for free ahead of the 2025 season-opening Thai Grand Prix if they fix the vibrations issues which plagued the LCR rider during the Sepang Test. The Buriram Test then let Honda and LCR close up to the lead fight.

Despite finishing the season-opener in P12, Marini feels Honda can now do the ‘impossible’ after recovering from last place to score points after failing to engage his launch device. Mir felt the Thai GP ‘confirms’ Honda’s recovery, too, given his race before losing concentration.

READ MORE: Everything to know about Joan Mir from net worth to career stats

Mir lost his front tyre into the final corner after suffering burns and blistering his hamstrings due to the heat at Buriram. That same heat which caused the factory Honda pilot to fall was what left Zarco feeling the Japanese brand have room to improve heading to Argentina, too.