Honda lost in MotoGP – can it find a new way? «MotorcycleDaily.com – Motorcycle News, Editorials, Product Reviews, Bicycle Reviews

Repsol Honda has had great success in GP racing, even the champions who dominated the premier class (such as Mick Doohan and more recently Marc Marquez). It’s hard to stay humble in such history, and certainly the team makes a little effort to hide its arrogance.

Marc Marquez “warned” Pol Espargaro while team members were joining Repsol Honda, saying they “must fight for the championship.” After all, it’s expected because we’re Honda. Current team manager Alberto Puig shows a similar level of cheekyness when explaining what Honda riders are “expected”.

Regardless of its history and current bravery, Repsol Honda is now facing serious problems under Puig’s guidance. I haven’t talked about the fact that the star rider recently had a fourth surgery on his right arm after being unnecessarily prolongedly injured by another arrogant act (Puig returns to Marquez to race). Early injury and surgical repair) when allowed too early.

The central issue is not Marquez’s ongoing struggle, but the lack of a rational approach for Honda to move forward and regain the consistent success known in premier-class road racing. The other three riders currently on the latest Honda MotoGP prototype are Takaaki Nakagami, Pol Espargaro and Alex Marquez. Although these are very talented riders, they are currently ranked 16th, 17th and 18th in the point rankings and it is clear that they will not be able to find the right bike setup most weekends. All three riders are expected to leave Honda at the end of the year to “clean the house” and wait for Marc Marquez (Alex’s brother) to recover. Is this a rational approach?

Puig and Honda seem happy to put all their eggs in the Marc Marquez basket. Indeed, Marquez will do some testing later this year to improve their inconsistent bikes at best and, in the worst case, recover enough to improve DNF monsters (mainly due to crashes). I hope. Honda seems to have forgotten or opted to ignore the fact that Marc Marquez is always one crash due to further injuries and some race failures. Two of his most important “existing conditions” are associated with his right arm and vulnerability to diplopia episodes resulting from collisions with head injuries. Marc Marquez is arguably one of the best players in the sport ever, but Repsol Honda is known to have two strong riders, both (Marc warned Pol). Is expected to fight for the championship.

Joan Mir is a 24-year-old young rider with considerable success, including the 2020 MotoGP World Championship and the 2017 Moto3 World Championship. Thanks to Suzuki’s sudden departure from MotoGP, he finds himself out of work next year. Despite his success, Mir finds himself without much negotiation of leverage for a new ride in MotoGP. MotoGP is now very talented … probably more talented than at any other point in the history of premier class racing. He has huge proven talents such as Fabio Quartararo and Peco Bagnaia, but he also has a rookie class and a second grade class in MotoGP. Mir is currently ranked 8th in MotoGP points, so he wasn’t particularly successful in the 2022 campaign and couldn’t find a podium in the first 11 rounds. Most of the other seats available in MotoGP in 2023 are already in use, so Mir’s manager can choose to sign Repsol Honda as Marquez’s teammate or sit sabbatical at home. I admit.

Despite being a mediocre year, Mir seems to be demanding a “champion’s salary” from Honda. It will be known over time whether Honda and Mir can reach an agreement, but can we expect Mir to get better on Honda next year? His mediocre results this year are on the excellent Suzuki.

Suzuki’s teammate Alex Rins of Mir has already signed a ride on Honda’s factory with the satellite LCR team next year. In a recent podcast, Rinse described the challenge of competing in Honda, focusing on Jorge Lorenzo and, more recently, Pol Espargaro for success on the same bike with Marc Marquez on it.

We hope that Marc Marquez and Honda will be able to test this later this year and improve perhaps the worst bike on the grid at the moment. After all, Honda riders are “expected” to fight for the championship, so I hope he can.

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https://ift.tt/06z2fHN Honda lost in MotoGP – can it find a new way? «MotorcycleDaily.com – Motorcycle News, Editorials, Product Reviews, Bicycle Reviews

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