June 7, 2017
Repsol Honda Riders Aim to Bounce Back at Home Grand Prix
The Repsol Honda Team looks forward to its home Grand Prix this weekend, with Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team RC213V) and Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team RC213V) aiming to bounce back after a challenging Italian Grand Prix last Sunday.
Marquez finished sixth at Mugello, while Pedrosa slid off during the last lap of the race. This week the pair returns to Spain for the second of four 2017 races on Spanish asphalt. The Catalan Grand Prix is as close to home as both riders and their team get: Marquez is from Cervera, an hour’s drive from the track, and Pedrosa is from Sabadell, only 20 minutes away.
Reigning MotoGP king Marquez has strong form at the Circuit of Barcelona- Catalunya (Montmelo to most locals), situated north of the capital of Catalunya. The 24-year-old Spaniard has stood on the podium across all three classes (125cc, Moto2 and MotoGP) and took 125 victory in 2010 and MotoGP victory in 2014. Most importantly, he topped the recent MotoGP tests at the circuit, which this year has a slightly revised layout to improve safety towards the end of the lap.
Those tests were arranged to allow riders to get familiar with the circuit revisions and with Michelin’s stiffer-construction front slick, which Marquez prefers for his aggressive corner-entry style. However, the five-times World Champion struggled with the tire at Mugello, where he had to settle for a defensive sixth-place finish. That result puts him fourth in the title chase, equal on points with Pedrosa. Marquez has taken one victory so far this year, in April’s Grand Prix of the Americas.
Pedrosa went into the Italian GP lying second in the World Championship after three consecutive podium finishes, including victory at last month’s Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez. However, he too found the going tough with the latest front tire. The 31-year-old former 125cc and 250cc World Champion is hoping the tire allocation will work better for him at the Circuit of Barcelona, where he too has an excellent record. He has won across all three classes at the track, winning the 125cc race in 2003, the 250cc race in 2005 and the MotoGP race in 2008. Pedrosa has finished on the MotoGP podium at Barcelona on eight occasions.
Honda’s top independent team rider is Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda RC213V), the Briton currently tenth overall, despite more than his fair share of bad luck during the first third of the season. Last Sunday he failed to finish after becoming the innocent victim of Pedrosa’s downfall; when the Spaniard crashed he took Crutchlow with him.
The former World Supersport Champion – who won his first two MotoGP races last year – has never had the best of times at Barcelona, where his best result to date is a fifth-place finish in 2012. But he is confident of a good showing this weekend after running fourth fastest in the recent tests. Crutchlow feels happy on his RC213V when the bike is sliding around on a hot and greasy track, which could be the scenario with hot weather forecast throughout the week.
Team-mates Jack Miller (Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS Honda RC213V) and Tito Rabat (Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS Honda RC213V) hold 12th and 14th in the points chase, both men feeling much happier riding with the 2017 RC213V engine configuration, which delivers more friendly power.
Australian Miller had a great start to the season, achieving top-ten finishes in four of the first five races, his record only spoiled when he was knocked down by another rider at Jerez. The 22-year-old had a major tumble at last month’s French GP, from which he has been recovering, but he should be fully fit this weekend.
Rabat is another local hero looking forward to his home race. The 27-year-old former Moto2 World Champion is Barcelona born and bred, so this is his biggest race of the year. Rabat won the 2014 Moto2 race at the track and goes into this weekend in upbeat mood after his best-ever MotoGP performance at Mugello, where he went straight through to the Q2 qualifying session for the first time and finished the race in 11th place, lapping within a second of the race winner.
While Marc Marquez eyes the top of the podium in the MotoGP race, younger brother Alex Marquez (Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS Kalex) will be going all-out to win the Moto2 race at his home track. The 21-year-old, who won the 2014 Moto3 title with Honda, has blossomed into a potential Moto2 champion this year with a run of fine performances. He won his first race in the Honda CBR600-powered class at Jerez last month and followed that with an excellent podium at Mugello last Sunday, when he duelled for victory with Mattia Pasini (Italtrans Racing Team Kalex) and Thomas Luthi (CarXpert Interwetten Kalex).
Pasini won the fight, with Luthi and Marquez chasing him over the finish line, the trio covered by a mere 0.156 seconds.
World Championship leader Franco Morbidelli (Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS Kalex) finished a close fourth, the first time this year he has taken the checkered flag outside the top three. The Italian’s points advantage over Moto2 veteran Luthi is down to just 13 points, with Marquez a further 22 points adrift.
Pasini’s first victory in Moto2 lifted him to sixth overall, behind Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Ajo KTM) and Francesco Bagnaia (Sky Racing Team VR46 Kalex). Pasini’s Mugello success was an emotional moment because the Italian has had a long road back to full competitiveness following a motocross accident that left his right arm weakened. The 31-year-old now rides with the front brake lever and clutch lever mounted on the left handlebar of his Kalex, so he makes clutch-less downshifts into every corner, a testament to the ruggedness of the CBR600’s gearbox.
Takaaki Nakagami (Idemitsu Honda Team Asia Kalex) was out of luck at Mugello, where he was taken out by another rider. That DNF dropped the Japanese star to eighth overall, equal on points with Luca Marini (Forward Team Kalex) and five points behind Dominique Aegerter (Kiefer Racing Suter).
Honda riders currently dominate the 2017 Moto3 World Championship, with the top four places in the points table taken by NSF250RW riders, who have won five of the first six races between them.
The action has been frantic and furious throughout but never more so than last Sunday at Mugello, where the top ten was covered by 1.1 seconds and the first 21 riders crossed the finish line separated by 3.4 seconds. This made it the closest top-20 finish across all classes in 69 years of motorcycle Grand prix racing.
World Championship leader Joan Mir (Leopard Racing Honda NSF250RW), who has already scored three wins this year, will be aiming to get back on the podium at Barcelona, after finishing the Mugello race in seventh, albeit just half a second behind the winner.
Honda’s top scorer at Mugello was Fabio Di Giannantonio (Del Conca Gresini Racing Moto3 Honda NSF250RW) who finished second, 0.037 seconds off the win, to put him third overall, just behind Aron Canet (Estrella Galicia 0,0 Honda NSF250RW) who finished fifth last weekend, a fraction ahead of John McPhee (British Team Honda NSF250RW), Mir and impressive 16-year-old rookie Ayumu Sasaki (SIC Racing Team Honda NSF250RW).
Americas Moto3 winner Romano Fenati (Marinelli Rivacold Snipers Honda NSF250RW) is fourth overall after taking 13th in Italy, 1.4 seconds behind the race winner.
The Barcelona circuit is one of the most popular in the MotoGP World Championship, with a topography and layout that gives riders all kinds of challenges: long corners, short corners, uphill and downhill entries and a long main straight. Machines need to offer all-round performance at this track, which can lose grip in high temperatures. The circuit has been slightly revised this year, to use the Formula 1 layout at turn ten and a new chicane before the final corner.
The Catalan Grand Prix is the second of a run of four MotoGP rounds in five weekends. It is followed by the Dutch TT on June 25 and the German Grand Prix on July 2.
Honda MotoGP rider quotes
Marc Marquez, Repsol Honda Team:
“I’m happy to get back in action soon and to do it at Catalunya, as racing at home in front of all your fans always gives you an extra boost! In Italy we managed the situation as well as possible, but we must do better. We have to be able to remain more consistently at a good level. The test we did at Catalunya some days ago actually went well enough. We did a lot of laps, improving the bike’s set-up over the day, so we’ll try and build on that beginning on Friday. As for the changes made to the track, I think they’re interesting and quite challenging to interpret well. The speed and the corners on the rest of the circuit are all similar, while in that sector they’re now quite different. But honestly, the layout is so particular that I like it!”
Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda Team:
“I’m looking forward to going to Montmelo as I like the track a lot and of course the atmosphere with my fan club and all the fans is always amazing! We will work hard to get back to the level we were at before Mugello and try and make good use of the information we gathered during the test we had at Montmelo in May, which was quite positive. Besides working on the setup, during the test we had the chance to try the new chicane and the modifications carried out to the layout which is tighter than before in that sector, even if the lap times are similar to the past. The surface is really bumpy and that also will be a factor to take into account. We are ready to give our 100 percent to get a good result!”
Cal Crutchlow, LCR Honda:
“Mugello was a difficult weekend for the Honda riders and it was a shame that I didn’t finish the race. But this is the past and now we must focus on the next race in Barcelona. I think it will be really difficult for us as well, the only saving grace is that our bike likes to slide a lot and we can normally do decent lap times at the end of a race with the bike sliding. The target is to finish the race with a decent result to recover some points in the standing.”
Jack Miller, Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS:
“Mugello was a tough weekend; I didn’t really feel on it at all in any of the sessions, but we came away with a point, so we salvaged something. Now I’m looking forward to moving on to Barcelona. I’m really happy to have a back-to-back race and to be going into the second one reasonably healthy, with the injured right hand not causing any real issues in Italy. Hopefully we can get to grips with the new track layout quickly, as I didn’t test there after Le Mans, and then get back to where we need to be in the race on Sunday.”
Tito Rabat, Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS:
“I’m feeling good going into my home race in Barcelona. Mugello was a very positive weekend for us and we made a big step forward with the bike. But we also tested here in Barcelona after the French GP, which means we have a bit of a head start on some of the other teams, as the track layout has changed slightly for this race. If anything the changes should benefit slightly our Honda, but the most important thing is that they were made on safety grounds and, with the new layout, the last part of the circuit is much safer for the riders than before. Hopefully we can continue where we left off last time out in Mugello and come away from Barcelona with another good result.”
Moto2 rider quotes
Franco Morbidelli, Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS:
“I had to be intelligent in Mugello. The guys in front of me were a bit faster than me and I didn’t have the pace to stay with them. But now we are straight into the next race here in Barcelona, which is good news. This weekend we need to work a little more to improve the set-up of the bike, so that we can find the pace we were missing in Mugello. I’m looking forward to the weekend ahead in Barcelona and I’m confident that, together with my crew, we can improve our package and be back at the front again.”
Thomas Luthi, CarXpert Interwetten:
“Catalunya is something special for me. Many, many years ago [in 2003] I climbed a GP podium for the first time in my career. The winner of that 125 race was Dani Pedrosa and I finished second. Fourteen years later and I’m still here! I like the track, but we will see how well we manage the modifications made since last year. I enjoyed Mugello a lot, it was a very entertaining race. I hope to do as good or even better at Catalunya.”
Alex Marquez, Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS:
“This is my home Grand Prix, so we want a good result this weekend, but then the same is true of every single Spanish rider on the grid, so it won’t be so easy. The fans here bring extra motivation, especially the huge contingent that will be at the race from the fan club, but you need to control that and focus on the job at hand. I like the circuit, I like the atmosphere and I’m determined to enjoy a good race this weekend in front of the home crowd. We just need to keep the same level as Mugello; I made some small mistakes on the final lap and we need to learn from that.”
Honda Moto3 rider quotes
Joan Mir, Leopard Racing:
“Last Sunday’s race was really crazy – so many riders attacking the corners together that it was very difficult to be fast and also stay out of trouble. I wasn’t very happy finishing seventh, but this is Moto3, so sometimes you can’t be at the front of the pack. I’m hoping we can get back on the podium at Barcelona. I didn’t have the best result there last year but everything is different this year, so we must work hard from Friday to get a set-up that will help us be fast and look after the tires well.”
Aron Canet, Estrella Galicia 0,0:
“In the last few races we have always been fighting in the front group, and we hope to do that again at the Catalan GP. The line of work we are following makes us very motivated to ride at another of our favorite circuits, and we are also second in the overall standings. We will try to continue picking up points and cutting the gap to the leader, at a race where the atmosphere and the boost from the crowd are incredible.”
Fabio Di Giannantonio, Del Conca Gresini Racing Moto3:
“With two consecutive podiums and some good races so far in the year – apart from the disappointment of Argentina – we go to Barcelona with great energy and confidence. The bike has improved a lot at Mugello and I’m pretty sure it’ll suit Montmelo quite well, too. I want to be in the top three again, because I’m really starting to enjoy it!”
Related Links
