Japanese manufacturers with Italian accent, the cultural revolution of Yamaha and Honda to return to the MotoGP race

As a speed motorcycle, a discipline in which the stables compete in the tenth of a second, staying practically two years without testing is necessarily heavy with consequences. The Pandemic of COVID-19 has therefore precipitated the collapse of Japanese manufacturers in international competitions. “The confinements were strict in Japan and they had to slow down the development of their machines between 2020 and 2022. In MotoGP, they have accumulated a significant delay against Europeans”, Observes Claude Michy, the organizer of the Grand Prix de France in the discipline, which takes place in Le Mans, from May 9 to 11.

The health crisis has contributed to ending almost half a century of Japanese supremacy in the queen speed category. “For a long time, their domination was without sharing, because European manufacturers lacked resources to compete”recalls Lucio Cecchinello, LCR manager Honda, the B team of the Tokyo firm.

The 2000 decade was marked by the reign of the Italian Valentino Rossi – on Honda, then on Yamaha -, before the advent of the Spanish pilots. Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) and Marc Marquez (Honda) accumulated world titles until 2019. That of Joan Mir, on Suzuki, in 2020, was the singing of the Hamamatsu conglomerate, which withdrew from any competition at the end of 2022.

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