Little by little, over the last few days, Johann Zarco's return to the Grand Prix took shape. Today, it's official: the French driver will replace Takaaki Nakagami within the LCR Honda team for the last three Grands Prix of the season, namely Australia, Malaysia and Valencia.
It all started with the rumor of a proposal, made by Lucio Cecchinello’s LCR team, to replace
Takaaki Nakagami who would undoubtedly have to have an operation after his national Grand Prix.
This rumor was quickly confirmed by John Zarco himself, but the proposal remained conditional on the Japanese driver having surgery after the Japanese Grand Prix.
This having been made official yesterday by a press release from the LCR Honda Idemitsu team, the way was clear for the double French world champion who declared today: “
What a chance to do the last races of the season on the LCR Honda IDEMITSU motorcycle. I'm really grateful to have this chance, and I'm going to do my best to get good results and enjoy this moment, because these might be the last three races I get to do for a while. I want to thank KTM for freeing me up to do these races on another bike. We'll see what I can do. First of all, I know I will enjoy the Phillip Island track, it's a fast circuit and I think the feeling could be good. We'll keep our fingers crossed and see what's possible. The goal is to ride at a good pace and rediscover the sensations I had before. »
Lucio Cecchinello (LCR Honda Team Director): “We are obviously very sorry that Nakagami has to miss the last three races of the season, but we know that injuries are an integral part of this sport. I proposed to HRC director Tetsuhiro Kuwata and team manager Alberto Puig to hire Zarco as a replacement driver and they agreed. When I contacted Zarco he immediately showed his interest and we worked together on every step of this project which will end in Valencia. For our part, we will do everything we can to support Johann, a rider who has shown immense talent and professionalism in his racing career. »
Australia, Malaysia and Valencia are three circuits that suit the French driver particularly well and should allow him to recall everyone's good memories, when discussions for 2021 contracts begin...
Johann zarco himself declared in the columns of Moto Journal that he would have to choose between this replacement for three races and the offer made by Yamaha for a test pilot job in 2020.
Despite the efforts made by Eric de Seynes, the French rider has therefore chosen for the moment to exercise his talents for the Tokyo firm, but in MotoGP, nothing is really set in stone forever...
