The expectations of the Repsol Honda Team have changed with its performance

He Repsol Honda Team was presented this Wednesday at the headquarters of the Spanish energy company on Méndez Álvaro street in Madrid, where the thread of MotoGP presentations will continue once the curtain is raised on the preseason training session with the first of the two official exam in Sepang circuit. They are also withdrawing face-to-face presentations after opening the page on restrictions due to the Covid-19 pandemic. With Marc Márquez and Joan Mir, the most successful team in history is taking the idea of ​​adding two talented champions to try to regain the lost throne in the next two seasons. It won’t be an easy company after all the ground Honda has lost since Marc Márquez’s chain of injuries has been out since July 2020 and caused them to close the constructors’ table in 2022. It’s time to start with start, “row all together” and make a pineapple.

[+] This is what the amazing Honda RC213V looks like:

On January 23, 2019, the Repsol Honda Team debuted its so-called dream team, consisting of multiple MotoGP champions Marc Márquez and Jorge Lorenzo. On that occasion, the Spanish energy company and the golden wing team celebrated 25 years of successful collaboration. They were joined on stage in the Auditorium of the Repsol headquarters in Madrid by two other riders who then also formed another leading team, Mick Doohan and Àlex Crivillé. The story does not end with curdling. If Marc Márquez adds his sixth and final MotoGP world crown to date on the other side of the box, Jorge Lorenzo will end the chapter of his career as a professional motorcycle rider at 32 years old.

The Repsol Honda Team 2023 and 2024 reunites its flagship Marc Márquez with a Mallorcan champion, the rider whose plate with the name of his MotoGP champion is right next to it, Joan Mir. This time the ‘veteran’ is the rider from Cervera, four years older than his new teammate who, like Lorenzo, switched brands after an initial three-year stint in MotoGP with Suzuki, the brand that when 2022 surprised by its appearance on the forum and without prior notice.

Presented by DAZN MotoGP journalist Izaskun Ruiz, the event interspersed speeches with pre-recorded images of the two riders who immediately took to the stage.

Marc Márquez and rowing together

The eight-time champion explained: “Finally a normal winter injured for 4-5 years and I dedicate myself to rest and training with a certain pattern. There is one month left and there is room for on the improvement and the idea is at the end of March to be 100% to start a season, we hope it will lead to victories”.

“The sensations in the preseason are always exciting – Marc admitted – You have to start being optimistic and want to work. We all have to row in the same direction. I came from the worst year of my career and Honda was not also lived its best years.. I have worked to make a small step on a physical level and Honda has worked to make a small step on a technical level and why not have a good championship”.

Asked about what his new partner can contribute: “Joan can contribute that if one pilot does not win another can win, if you wear these colors you will definitely win. He comes from another brand but the comments are very similar to mine, we are rowing in the same direction and that makes Honda’s job easier and hopefully we can fight a lot of races together, it means we are at the front”

It was an honor to wear those colors for Joan Mir

Joan Mir returned to the Honda family where he won Moto3 and opened his second team in MotoGP after holding the glory with Suzuki: “For me it’s an honor, I’m very nervous, I thought to myself many times with these colors and I am excited and eager to start and grateful to be part of this team with so much history”.

The Mallorcan recounted that “Honda is coming through some difficult times and we are trying to get the best package, I still have to adapt to the bike, you have to ride in a different way, you have to adapt and test the parts or it has been easy, we managed to approach a fairly competitive level and in Portimao we can take a step forward”

Mir accepts the challenge of facing the legend Marc Márquez with a Honda who has been riding in MotoGP since 2013: “A change always gives freshness to the team, being a partner with a rider like Marc is the best that way to measure yourself, you compare yourself to the better and when you have two competitive riders they always push each other to give more and that’s what we have to do. The feedback is quite similar and the the direction we are going is the same and makes it easier for Japan to work.”

The HRC director was happy to see Marc healthy again

Tetsuhiro Kuwata, director of HRC, assured that “we have written incredible stories all these years. The news that we have worked hard to improve these motorcycles and the stage of development in the test in Portimao, know which we have this year a good prisoner again because of today’s very competitive motoGP we will continue to develop and improve the bike to write the following pages”

“It’s great to see him healthy and back on the bike, we know what Marc is capable of and the aim is for him to show his ability like in the past and be at the top of the championship again.”

“And it’s great to have Mir with us, he’s back in the Honda family after being a Moto3 champion, he’s got a lot of ability and adapts well to our bike and this year Moorish is learning it and being close to the front guys”

Marcos Fraga communications and brand director: “The alliance is more than what you see, behind it there is a great team of people at the Repsol Tech Lab in Móstoles and Honda at the research center in Saitama and it is the base that allows the riders to give their best”

“The competition is an unparalleled ambassador. We combine technology and values. The 29 years of the alliance are beginning to be exceptional, a milestone made possible thanks to competing values, teamwork, sacrifice of spirit, improvement, superior technology and values ​​give us unmatched ingredients”