Another retirement: Honda rider Johann Zarco headed for the pit lane

As was the case in Australia, Johann Zarco was confronted with a technical problem with his Honda during the MotoGP race at Sepang. This did nothing to dent the Frenchman’s confidence.

Kay Hettich

MotoGP

01.11.2026 - 11:18

This article is an automatically generated English version. The Original Article was published in German.

Johann Zarco
© Gold and Goose Photography

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Johann Zarco

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Johann Zarco last finished in the top 10 at the Spielberg Grand Prix, but after securing 8th on the grid in qualifying at the Sepang International Circuit, he was confident he could deliver a solid performance. That would be sorely needed, as the Honda rider only managed to finish 13th on the Mandalika Circuit in Japan, Indonesia and Australia.

In Saturday’s Sprint race, the veteran rider – the 36-year-old has been competing in MotoGP since 2017 – narrowly missed out on the final points-scoring position, finishing tenth. In Sunday’s main race, it looked for a long time as though Zarco might match his best finish of 2026 so far (7th place at Jerez). At the start, the number 5 rider gained a place and held seventh position behind KTM rider Enea Bastianini until lap 15 – then the Honda rider slowed down, lost places and disappeared from the timing screen with three laps to go!

“At the start of the race I was pushing hard – it was fun to pull off a few overtakes and be in the mix – to feel alive,” Zarco said of the opening laps. “I knew Enea would be coming on strong. A gap had opened up to the top five and I was hoping we could close it down together. We were making good progress, but we weren’t fast enough to catch the leading riders; however, we were able to pull away from those chasing us. Marini managed to keep up for a while, but then fell back a bit.“As it became increasingly difficult to keep up with Enea, I decided three laps before the end to hold my position right to the finish. But then I had another technical problem, just like at Phillip Island. Here in Sepang I’d run out of power, so it was something completely different to what happened in Australia.”

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