Johann Zarco's first season as a Honda MotoGP rider was always going to be a climbdown from his time as a factory Ducati-contracted rider, but he probably wouldn't have anticipated the sheer scope of said climbdown.
A first-time MotoGP race winner last year, Zarco traded what has since proven an even better Ducati - the GP24 that would have been his once Marco Bezzecchi rejected it in favour of staying at VR46 with a GP23 - for a historically bad Honda. He had 122 points at this stage last year but sits on a hideous 12 right now.
Now, the Honda move was never going to be about instant gratification in any sense other than maybe financial. Zarco was always coming to Honda to help rebuild it, and is highly unlikely to feel any sort of buyer's remorse, especially after last year's Phillip Island triumph meant he finally bagged a race win while he had a competitive bike.
But with Zarco having just turned 34 there will be an inflated value to every opportunity to win while he's still in his prime and - as the comparison within the Honda camp is showing - still holding his own against strong MotoGP opposition.
He will not find those opportunities in MotoGP this year. But he's heading into one this weekend.
A near-miss
Zarco should have already run in the legendary endurance classic Suzuka 8 Hours, and maybe should've even already won it.
In 2016, while he was in the middle of powering to a second straight Moto2 crown, the Frenchman was in the frame for a Suzuki MotoGP ride, testing its bike as part of it - and also signing up for its 8 Hours effort.
By the time the actual race rolled around, though, Suzuki had picked Alex Rins over Zarco for 2017 and the Suzuka plans went out the window.
The next two years he could've tackled it with Yamaha instead, given his status as a Tech3 rider, but both he and team-mate Jonas Folger favoured focusing on their nascent MotoGP careers.
Yamaha, which had won Suzuka with Tech3 'loanees' the previous two years, won again in 2017 and 2018 but using its World Superbike riders instead of Zarco.
His career then took him to KTM and Ducati, two marques without much of a view towards Suzuka (although that is changing for Ducati as of this year).
But it's all aligned for Zarco now that he's at Honda, with not only a place at the team to beat at the event but also a nice MotoGP-free window to fit a two-day test into thanks to the postponement of the Kazakhstan race (which has now been replaced by a second race at Misano) from its initial June date.
Not a given
Honda's main works entry has won both editions of the Suzuka 8 Hours since the event's return from a COVID-19 hiatus, with Iker Lecuona and Xavi Vierge serving as the European 'guests' in its winning line-ups.
Takumi Takahashi - the very same rider who did not make 107% as Rins's injury replacement in last year's MotoGP round at Misano - was part of both those wins, as well as three more, making him the joint-most successful rider in the race's history.
He is Honda's reference rider here, "the fastest rider in Suzuka" as per Zarco.
The third rider in the line-up, Teppei Nagoe, is another newcomer to the team. Zarco's best time was half a second down on Takahashi's but two tenths up on Nagoe's on the first day of the June test, though Nagoe then set the crew's fastest time of the test - albeit with Takahashi largely sitting out the day to ensure Zarco got maximum mileage due to limited tyre availability.
Honda didn't broach the 2m05s laptime range in the end - only Ducati Team Kagayama and YART Yamaha did - but single-lap pace is, of course, secondary to longer running.
However, Zarco's comments indicated he is aware of the threat the Yamaha crew of Niccolo Canepa, Karel Hanika and Marvin Fritz pose in particular.
"It would be good to win," said Zarco. "Honda wants to win, because they won the last two years. They want the next one.
"It seems in the past years they had a bit more advantage than what they have this year. During the test I've been impressed by the pace of the Yamaha guys. So it'll be good to see all three riders of both teams, how they can be the most constant.
"The target is victory, and I hope I will be fast enough, maybe even for the qualifying. The pace is the main thing, and really riding for an hour, it's kind of interesting, I never did it before. When I tried it during the test, it was nice to ride one hour with a race bike."
A stern challenge may well make it all the more sweet if Zarco does pull it off, though - while also giving him good preparation for other endurance races he's keen on in the future, including the Bol d'Or or the motorcycle Le Mans variant, both spanning 24 hours.
But both of those are post-MotoGP considerations. Whereas this Suzuka outing - a chance to etch his name in the history books, be part of what would be Honda's 30th win and a record-breaking sixth win for Takahashi - is an unexpected bonus while he's still in his prime yet saddled most weekends with a bike that just cannot do very much right now.
