‘Stagnation’ of MotoGP project a ‘major issue’ for Honda

Koji Watanabe, President of HRC, says the ‘stagnation’ of Honda’s MotoGP project is ‘a major issue’.
Marc Marquez, MotoGP race, British MotoGP, 6 August
Marc Marquez, MotoGP race, British MotoGP, 6 August

HRC won🐷 seven of the n♈ine MotoGP titles between 2011 and 2019, courtesy of Casey Stoner and then Marc Marquez.

But Honda has taken just four race victories since Marquez’s arm fracture at Je🌼rez 2020 and went winless for the whole of last season.

Injuries for Marquez, COTA w𒉰inner Alex Rins and Joan Mir in the opening half of this year’s campaign means there is currently no Honda rider in the top 13 of the world championship.

Honda is ahead ofꦓ only Yamaha in the constructors’ standings, with a clear gap to European brands Ducati, KTM and Aprilia. Su♔ch struggles mean there are persistent rumours that star rider Marquez might jump ship at the end of his present contract.

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Watanabe told the website that the decision to integrate the four-wh🔯eel division into HRC in 2022 took an entire year due to the cultures being “quite different”.

But he is confident that, “we are beginning to make progress in the collaboration between the two-wheel and four-wheel ca🦋tegories" and confirmed that four-wheel engineers are involved with the MotoGP project.

“Presently, the stagnation of MotoGP is a major issue for Honda/HRC, so we have determined to regain ou🎐r strඣength with an all-HRC structure,” Watanabe said.

“To this end, the four-wheel development team is involved in MotoGP development, and iꦰs moving to produce tangibl🌠e results as soon as possible.

“On the other hand, Two-wheel has a long history as a racing company, so we know races and race operations. Two-wheel also has established a business model where HRC makes race 🌳parts and delivers them♋ via dealers for users.

“The four-wheel business is just beginning to develop this aspect. There is much to learn from motorcy༒cles in terms of such know-how.

“In that sense, I am convinced t🤡hat the collaboration between motorcycles and automobiles will produce something even greater than we initially expected.”

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