Repsol Honda Team ready for 25th year in the premier class

2019 marks 25 years of collaboration between HRC and Repsol as the iconic squad prepares for another year of competition with two champion riders.

112 days after the Valencia GP, the MotoGP™ World Championship is set to roar back to life under the unique Qatar floodlights. 2019 sees the Repsol Honda Team welcome five-time world champion Jorge Lorenzo alongside Marc Marquez and celebrate a 25-year partnership between Repsol and HRC.

During their 25 years racing at the highest level in motorcycle racing, Repsol and Honda have achieved 14 world championships, 168 victories, 427 podiums, 177 pole positions and 182 fastest laps. With 12 world titles between them, Marquez and Lorenzo form the most successful team on the MotoGP™ grid and begin another chapter in the Repsol Honda Team’s history.

Shoulder surgery in late December led to the most challenging off-season of Marc Marquez’s career and hundreds of hours of physiotherapy. Maintaining the mantra of ‘there are no points for testing’, the reigning World Champion had a, by his standards, subdued testing campaign but arrives in Qatar happy with the feeling of his Honda RC213V and with his physical condition. Since entering the premier class in 2013, Marquez has never finished outside of the top five in Qatar.

The Qatar GP will be Jorge Lorenzo’s racing debut in Repsol Honda Team colours. Having improved his lap time at the Qatar Test by 2.437 seconds, Lorenzo is looking to continue his adaptation to the Honda RC213V. Although Lorenzo was forced to miss the Sepang Test due to a broken scaphoid, his potential on the Honda is clear and the weekend will present him with more crucial bike time. With six wins and five podiums from 15 visits, the Losail International Circuit is amongst Lorenzo’s strongest.

The first MotoGP™ press conference of 2019 is set for 17:00 local time on Thursday, March 07 with both Marquez and Lorenzo in attendance after the traditional ‘class photo’. Free Practice One begins at 15:40 local time with the lights of the MotoGP™ race scheduled to go out at 20:00 local time on Sunday, March 10.

Location Information
The fabulous Losail International Circuit lies on the outskirts of Doha, the capital city of Qatar. Built in little over a year, the track cost $58 million USD and required round-the-clock dedication from almost 1,000 workers in order to get it ready.

Length: 5.380 kilometres / 3.343 miles
Width: 12 metres
Left corners: 6
Right corners: 10
Longest straight: 1.068 kilometres / 0.664 miles
Constructed: 2004

Marc Marquez about to reach the 100 MotoGP race milestone

Following two back-to-back wins and a two-week break, Marc Marquez now has the Czech GP on his radar, an event where he will hit the special milestone of 100 MotoGP races.

The landmark is a good occasion for a quick look at the amazing achievements the 25-year-old has tallied so far in his still relatively short Premier Class career. In the five seasons and 99 MotoGP races since his debut in the class at the 2013 Qatar GP, Marc has so far earned:

40 wins
70 podiums
48 pole positions
42 fastest laps
4 World Titles (the youngest-ever rider to win four premier-class World Championships)

The Championship leader looks forward to updating some of those statistics next Sunday, at a track where he won last year and where he attended a one-day private test in early July alongside teammate Dani Pedrosa, who has also been very successful at the Czech circuit through his career.

The Repsol Honda pair have achieved two 1-2 finishes at the Czech GP, in 2013 and 2017. Marc holds the Pole record of 1’54.596” (2016), Dani the Circuit record at 1’56.027” (2014).

At the Grand Prix České Republiky:

Marc Marquez has 3 wins: 1 x Moto2 (2012) and 2 x MotoGP (2013, 2017), plus an additional 3 podiums and 4 pole positions.

Dani Pedrosa has 4 wins: 1 x 125 (2003), 1 x 250 (2005), and 2 x MotoGP (2012, 2014), plus an additional 7 podiums and 2 pole positions.

 

Credit: HRC News

Repsol and Honda renew MotoGP alliance to reach 25 year anniversary in 2019

The Spanish energy company and the Japanese manufacturer extend their contract through to 2020 and consolidate the most successful relationship in motorcycle racing history.

Repsol and Honda have extended their contract in MotoGP for a further two years, thus consolidating an alliance based on technological collaboration and commemorating its twenty-fifth anniversary in 2019.

In 1995, Repsol and Honda Racing Corporation (HRC) joined forces for a project that will be next year celebrating a quarter-century in motorcycle racing. Since then, the energy company and vehicle manufacturer have won 13 rider World Championships in the premier class and taken 163 Grand Prix wins, the most recent coming this past weekend at the Dutch TT through Marc Márquez.

Repsol’s Executive Managing Director of Communications and the Chairman’s Office, Begoña Elices, and HRC President Yoshishige Nomura, signed the extension of the agreement, through which Repsol will continue to be the main sponsor of the Honda factory team in MotoGP and the supplier of the fuel and lubricant used by their bikes -unique prototypes to which technological excellence, products and the innovation of both companies is transferred.

For the 2019 season, current World Championship leader Márquez will team with Jorge Lorenzo. Between the two they have won seven of the last eight MotoGP titles, with the exception being that won by Casey Stoner with Repsol Honda in 2011.

The collaboration between Repsol and Honda goes beyond conventional sports sponsorship and is reflected in a close relationship between the Honda laboratories in Saitama (Japan) and the Repsol Technology Center, which is located in Móstoles (Spain).

This long term teamwork is an example of the enduring collaboration between two global companies that always seek to overcome challenges and aspire to excellence. Repsol and Honda have been able to make the most of their strengths and achieve a winning formula, which is based on the combination of bike, rider, fuel and lubricant.

In the 1990s, the collaboration began with the development of two-stroke engines and fuel, moving on to the challenge of developing the best four-stroke engines and fuels in the world.

More than half of the premier class world titles won since 1995 have gone to the Repsol Honda team. In addition, the Repsol-Honda collaboration has led to the winning of the Team Championship on seven occasions since the award was created in 2002. A record of 163 wins and 419 podiums in 500cc and MotoGP has been reached thanks to riders such as Mick Doohan, Álex Crivillé, Valentino Rossi, Nicky Hayden, Casey Stoner, Dani Pedrosa and Marc Márquez.

The team with the most recognisable colours in the MotoGP World Championship will celebrate the 25th anniversary of Repsol and Honda’s relationship in 2019, an event that coincides with the 50th anniversary of the energy company as a sports sponsor.

 

Credit: HRC News 2018