MotoGP Valencia | Alex Marquez puts Johann Zarco on the corner

Johann Zarco ousted from Honda if Alex Marquez signed with Honda. The French driver is not enthusiastic about passing into Avintia.

Alex Marquez just a step away from the Honda box, only the official confirmation of the team is missing. In Repsol or LCR, it matters little. The sacrificial lamb of this last minute operation is Johann Zarco. The French refused the role of Yamaha test driver, knowing that in HRC something was already moving. Jorge Lorenzo had been thinking about the farewell to MotoGP for months, already after the fall of Assen. And it has not made it a mystery to Alberto Puig and Honda leaders. Now that the news is official, the Japanese company is sinking the "bang" with a marketing strategy of sure impact. Alex Marquez certainly has all the credentials to arrive in the premier class, but there are many who have stumbled on the debut with the RC213V.

At the expense is Johann Zarco who, although hired by LCR Honda without illusions, had received a minimum of guarantees on the future. Carmelo Ezpeleta pushes for his stay in MotoGP, but the only place now free is at Ducati Avintia, replacing Karel Abraham. A way out that the French do not like, at the mercy of a series of choices that risk to exclude it from the Top Class. First the transfer of Tech3 from Yamaha to KTM, the failed contract with Honda last year, the wrong choice of KTM, the rejection of the Yamaha proposal. A series of errors that put Johann Zarco on the corner of the ring. With the entry of Alex Marquez into Honda, the only emergency exit is in Avintia, with a bike that can hardly offer him the required performance.

Ruben Xaus, sporting director of Avintia Ducati, told ‘DAZN’: “For us a pilot of the Zarco level would be optimal, because it would give us an important level. We believe that the team can host pilots of this level. But now I can't say anything. We are a team that wants to grow, evolve … We show that we deserve to renew with Dorna for the next 5 years". But Johann Zarco does not like the forced choice.