Johann Zarco has dropped the clearest hint yet that he is destined for a move to Honda for the 2024 MotoGP World Championship after claiming it is fighting harder for him to join than Ducati is to retain him.

The Frenchman is currently into his fourth season with the Italian manufacturer, three of which have been spent with the Pramac Racing team.

Though the consistency of the double Moto2 World Champion has been pivotal in Pramac Ducati’s current status as MotoGP Teams’ Championship leader after nine events, he is still yet to win a MotoGP race since making his debut in 2018.

Coming into this weekend’s Austrian MotoGP, Ducati has intimated that it wants to promote Marco Bezzecchi into Zarco’s Pramac seat in order to assure him of 2024-specification machinery. However, the Italian admits is considering rejecting the offer in favour of staying within the VR46 Racing team he has progressed through the grand prix ranks with.

It means Zarco still has a good chance of staying with Pramac Ducati next season, but with a lucrative offer from LCR Honda on the table, he admits this notion of Ducati settling for him isn’t appealing to him.

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"Honda seem to want me more than Ducati do,” Zarco said. “But also, Ducati is performing well with a great bike, so I could also make this choice, in order to keep fighting at the top."

"We knew that between Silverstone and Austria there would be few discussions, so we'll see what happens this weekend..

"I'm not worried. In any case, I'll have the choice, which it's a good thing."

Zarco would be in line to replace Alex Rins in the LCR satellite squad after the Spaniard opted for a move to Yamaha for 2024, though the identity of his prospective team-mate remains unclear.

As it stands, Takaaki Nakagami is favourite to stay on board as an experienced hand, but Iker Lecuona - who races with Honda in WorldSBK and has started a number of MotoGP races this season as a deputy for the firm’s injured riders - has also been touted, as have Honda’s Moto2 proteges Ai Ogura and Somkiat Chantra.