LCR rider Johann Zarco admits what ‘I don’t want’ Honda telling him, it ‘doesn’t help’

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Johann Zarco is the highest-ranked Honda rider in the 2025 MotoGP standings ahead of the French Grand Prix at Le Mans, with the LCR ace on 43 points already this term.

His haul across the first five rounds of this season puts Zarco only 12 behind his total tally of 55 from the full 2024 season. It even took the 34-year-old until round 18 of last term’s 20 to surpass 40 points when Zarco got the best result of his first year at LCR with P8 in Thailand.

LCR did not have to wait long at all for Zarco to better his P8 finish at Buriram last October as the Frenchman achieved P7 in the 2025 season-opener in Thailand. He also got a campaign-best to date of P4 in Qatar, and has only finished outside of the points in one Grand Prix yet.

Now, LCR ace Zarco heads home for this weekend’s French GP as the lead Honda rider. Luca Marini ranks 12th in the standings and his factory Honda teammate Joan Mir is only in 18th. LCR rookie Somkiat Chantra in 23rd as the only rider to enter every race yet to score a point.

LCR rider Johann Zarco does not ‘want’ Honda telling him what upgrades they are working on

Yet, despite Honda considering Zarco to replace Marini when the Italian’s contract expires at the end of the season, the LCR ace does not ‘want’ the Japanese brand telling him about the upgrades that test riders Aleix Espargaro, Stefan Bradl and Takaaki Nakagami are trialling.

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

Espargaro got his first wildcard appearance of the 2025 MotoGP season at the Spanish GP at Jerez. Honda also used the Spaniard’s wildcard to test a new prototype engine, which Mir then used amid the Jerez test. But Zarco only wants Honda’s upgrades when they are ready.

Zarco said, via quotes by Motosan: “I don’t want to know what Aleix Espargaro is working on because his work is very important for Honda.

“Knowing [what Espargaro and Honda are testing] doesn’t help me with my mission during the race weekend. But when something is good, I can test it because we already have confirmation that everything is going well.”

Johann Zarco faces a wait for Honda’s prototype engine after an unsatisfactory Jerez test

Honda utilised the first in-season test of 2025 at Jerez to trial a number of upgrades with the Japanese brand’s factory riders Mir and Marini, plus test rider Espargaro. Marini did not test their prototype engine but Honda focused his time on developing the chassis of the RC213V.

READ MORE: Everything to know about Honda from the MotoGP team’s riders to leadership

MotoGP’s concessions rules allow Honda to continue developing their engine after finishing last year at the bottom of the teams’ standings on 35 points and behind LCR in 10th with 86. But as Zarco does not want to test unproven parts, he faces a wait for Honda’s latest engine.

“On the track something is still missing,” Honda team director Alberto Puig admitted as their prototype engine still lacked top speed and their test at Jerez also presented problems with vibrations, via Paddock GP. “We haven’t found what we’re looking for yet.”