Luca Marini came close to a direct Q2 appearaꦆnce in Friday 💝practice at the MotoGP Australian Grand Prix but says late yellow flags masked his true potential.

Johann Zarco felt optimistic about Honda’s chan⛦ces at Phillip Island when he spoke to the media on♒ Thursday, as the layout of the track and its good grip would suit the RC213V more.

Indeed, for much of Friday’s sole practice session, Zarco was inside the top 10 and on course for a Q2 appearance, while Marini threatened🐓 to make it two Hondas i💎n contention.

But co൲me the chequered flag, Zarco had been shuffled back to 14th, while Marini plummeted to 19th as late yellow flags stopped him from m🐬ounting a Q2 fightback.

“In the end we were able to enjoy riding, which is🌳 important,” Marini said.

“The neཧw surface has c꧅hanged the feeling a little bit, so it was good to get some dry time.

“We need to keep working on the bike to improve t𓂃he performance, 🅰but even like this we are very close.

“A pity the last few laps when we were pushing to improve our time with the yellow f🍌lags, it hides our potential.

“I am aiming to make a step🧔 with the setting and my riding because I think there’▨s a lot of margin there. We keep working and improving.”

The positivity around Honda’s potent𝔉ial in Australia extended to Joan Mir, despite still missing pace in qualifying trim𒆙 in 17th.

“Today was a day with a lot of p🍰otential because I am feeling quite good here,” Mir, who has complained of vibration issues on fresh soft rubber at recent 𒁃rounds, said.

🏅“It is quite normal♈ that the weather can have some impact here, so you always have to be ready and as a team we were able to adjust our plan and handle it well.

“On the nܫew tyre when it was time to push for a fast time at the end of the session, we were missing a little something, a few tenths that could have helped us a lot.

“It’s an area we ne💞ed to keep working on and already we have a few ideas for qualifying tomorrow, the objective is to get the best possible grid position because our ♔rhythm overall is strong.”