LCR Honda stand in Johann Zarco said that he doesn’t want to make the same mistake as he did a year ago when discussing his MotoGP future after his brief stint with the LCR Honda team came to an end in Valencia.
The Frenchman was given a lifeline by LCR after walking away from the factory KTM team halfway through the first year of a two-year contract. Zarco showed that on the right machinery he can still be competitive.
With Jorge Lorenzo’s shock retirement, some had assumed that this would be the chance Zarco needed, leaving the Frenchman landing on his feet. It soon became clear that Honda had chosen Moto2 World Champion Alex Marquez to replace Jorge Lorenzo rather than Zarco.
Rumours then started that Zarco was going to join the Avintia Ducati outfit, however, Zarco was quick to dismiss the rumours. With the 2019 season now over, Zarco said he still has no clarity over what the future may hold, but that he will learn from his mistakes of jumping on an uncompetitive bike.
"At the moment I just have pain in my ankle, and I want to fix it and do some good training at home. The doors look quite closed, but nothing is one hundred percent at the moment, so that's why I can’t say anything.
"Even if some solution can be found, I will not take anything at any price. I don’t want to make the same mistake as one year ago. For this reason, I will think well.”
The ankle pain that Zarco mentioned was due to a scary incident shortly after he crashed out of the crash. Losing the front end of his RC213V at turn six, Zarco walked through the gravel trap with his back to the track. Unbeknown to him, Iker Lecuona had also lost the front of his KTM. Lecuona’s RC16 flipped Zarco from behind, leaving him down and visibly hurt in the gravel.
When asked about it, Zarco said: ”I didn't check behind, I was walking to my bike and Lecuona's bike totally hit me and this was a big surprise.
“It was a really hard shock and immediately my left ankle felt strange. I could not move it and the way his bike hit me I was sure something was broken. It looks like the bones are all okay. Nothing broken. But the ligaments are maybe not good.”
