Luca Marini came close to a direct Q2 appearance in Friday practice at the MotoGP Australian Grand Prix but says late yellow f🍌lags masked his true potential.

Johann Zarco felt optimistic about Honda’s chances at Phillip Island when he spoke to th🅠e 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 in co༒ntention.

But come the chequered flag, Zarco had been shuffled back to 14th, while Marini plummeted to 19th as late yellow📖 f꧂lags stopped him from mounting a Q2 fightback.

“♋In th🌞e end we were able to enjoy riding, which is important,” Marini said.

“The new 🍷surface has changed the feeling a little bit, so it was good to 💎get some dry time.

“We need to keep working on thꦏe bike to improve the 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 flags, 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 potentiꦅal in Australia extended to Joan Mir, despite still missing pace in qualif🌌ying trim in 17th.

“Today was a day w🐠ith a ౠlot of potential because I am feeling quite good here,” Mir, who has complained of vibration issues on fresh soft rubber at recent rounds, said.

“It is quite nor💫mal 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 new tyre when it w🃏as 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 need to keep working on and already we have a few ideas for qualifying tomorrow, the objective is to get the best possible grid posi꧙tion because our rhythm overall is strong.”