MADRID, 13 Feb. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Repsol Honda MotoGP team presented this Tuesday a renewed RC213V, with new colors and many changes that establish “the foundations to begin a real recovery” for the 2024 season, the first without the Spanish Marc Márquez, with the Balearic Joan Mir and the Italian Luca Marini as pilots.
In an event held at the Warner Music space, in the center of Madrid, the most successful team (16 titles at driver level and 10 at team level since the beginning of their collaboration in 1995) announced to the press, guests and dozens of fans gathered there for the new design of the Honda for 2024, to whom the team opened the doors given the “very special and celebratory” occasion, as stated by Repsol's communications and brand director, Marcos Fraga.
There is a lot of expectation to know what the machine would be like after the goodbye of Marc Márquez – six-time champion in the premier category defending the colors of Repsol Honda. And the design of the RC213V for the new season presents radical changes, the first in its decoration. Goodbye to the prominence of white along with the traditional orange, to make way for the groundbreaking navy blue and red tones throughout the body.
Furthermore, on the 30th anniversary of Repsol's arrival as a sponsor of the official Honda team, the fuel brand sees how it changes its usual position and lowers its place on the chassis, while the 'naming' of the Japanese factory takes up more space.
Although Mir and Marini's new weapon – the third novelty in the equation for 2024 after Márquez's goodbye and the change in decoration – also presents significant modifications at a technical level, due to the battery of concessions to try to cut the gap with the European manufacturers, who dominate the World Cup.
Repsol Honda Team Manager, Alberto Puig, confessed that they have had to “redesign everything a little” until presenting the new prototype, focusing on “weight and power.” “But you are never happy, because there will always be someone who does it better than you, you are always at the limit. We have enthusiasm, motivation, we are happy, with two young drivers who are going to fight hard,” he celebrated.
“To take weight off the bike you have to redesign many things. The remodeling work on the bike has been exhaustive and in quite a short time. A new engine block has not been made, but it has been redesigned inside and that is sometimes more difficult. There is a lot of work on the bike. But there will be important evolutions that we will need,” he added.
Thus, Puig valued the recent test in Sepang positively, some “very interesting” tests for the team, which “needed to see a direction” in which to continue working. “There were a couple of things that could be put back on track, the drivers saw differences compared to the Valencia test. The step we have taken has been interesting, although we have to continue improving,” he noted.
However, he did not set a date for Repsol Honda's first victory since Marc Márquez did it for the last time in October 2021. “I wish I knew,” he ironized. “We come from quite low, we haven't done well at all in recent years. But we have laid the foundations to begin a real recovery. The new rules want there to be a more equal championship, and we are going to take advantage of it,” he said.
“During the first part of the season we hope to reduce the gap that still exists. It would be nice to think that in the middle of the season, after the summer, they will have the possibility of fighting for podiums and winning races,” said Puig, who confessed that he does not know if Márquez would return to the Japanese brand if the Honda is competitive in 2024.
For their part, the pilots were “optimistic” about the new course. “Honda is working a lot, and they have made a bike with notable improvements in a very short time. Let's hope they can improve a little more in the Qatar test. I want more than anyone to get this situation forward and be able to be at the front again and come back to enjoy the races,” Joan Mir commented during the event.
While Marini acknowledged that it is “a dream” to defend the colors of Repsol Honda, something that his brother, Valentino Rossi, already did in 2002 and 2003. “Every time I enter the box and look at the bikes, the color orange… “It's incredible. We have to work well and fight for victories again, this is our goal,” he remarked.
Finally, Honda's General Manager, Tetsuhiro Kuwata, insisted that “everyone is working very hard” at the Japanese factory “to continue increasing the number of World Championships.” “The engineers have worked a lot, it is a big challenge. We have a lot of valuable information to continue refining the 2024 package, with which we hope to return to those privileged positions,” he assured.
The new MotoGP season will start on March 10 with the Qatar Grand Prix, at the Losail Circuit, in which 40% renewable fuels will be tested for the first time, with the aim of making them 100% renewable. 2027.