Contract talks between Johann Zarco and the LCR team have “just started,” according to boss Lucio Cecchinello. He hopes the French rider will stay with the satellite team. This comes as the rider has a potential link to the factory Honda team.

Zarco has established himself as a strong rider since joining the team in 2024. Sat sixth in the championship standings, he has been consistent in outperforming his colleagues under the Japanese marque, including Joan Mir and Luca Marini. Qatar saw him finish fourth – the best finish for Honda so far this season.

His value as a rider has skyrocketed, with Zarco commenting on his recent results in regard to his place in 2026. 

“Sure, it’s pretty important,” he said ahead of the Spanish MotoGP season.

“I know I’m doing good things with Honda. With where I am in my career, I want to continue with Honda, which will be the best way.

“Also Suzuka [8 Hours] is something that Honda likes, and they see that I’m enjoying it too.

“So yeah, it’s always good to be the first Honda rider, but most of all now to get close to the top guys.”

Speaking on the world feed, Cecchinello confirmed his interest in retaining his rider. 

“Well, I feel that Honda is more and more seeing our team as a part of their family and this is clear for me because we’ve never gotten such great support from them [as we do now],” he said.

“And I think that the main goal for them is to put as many Hondas as possible in front. We will be very pleased if Zarco can consider to stay here, also for the future. But we don’t know, his negotiations with Honda have just started. So, we’ll see.”

He’s keen to maintain expectations as they enter the European leg of the 2025 season, however. 

“Well, definitely we’ve been very happy, very satisfied with how Johann rode the bike and I am personally satisfied with how the team worked around the bike to allow him to perform as good as it was,” he said on Qatar.

“However, let’s say that we want to keep our feet on the ground and see also how our performance will be in the next few European rounds because it’s very important for us to be racing in the same race tracks that we know very well, like here in Jerez, Le Mans, Mugello.”

He added: “And I think we will be very pleased if we can confirm to be able to stay in the top five and top six in Mugello. However, it will be very hard because the other competitors are working very hard as well.”