Honda’s reigning double MotoGP World Champion Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team RC213V) arrives at Brno this week aiming to keep the momentum going following his first back-to-back victories of the season.
The 22-year-old took a dominant win at Indianapolis last Sunday to follow last month’s victory in Germany, ahead of the sport’s traditional midseason hiatus. These successes follow a difficult start to the season, during which Marquez took one victory from the first eight races. His return to winning form follows detailed technical work by the Honda Racing Corporation, who fine-tune his RC213V to suit the Spaniard’s spectacular riding technique.
Although Marquez isn’t a huge fan of the Brno layout, he has fine form at the track, with MotoGP victory in 2013 and Moto2 success in 2012. Last year he rode to a fourth-place finish, his first defeat of the season following an historic run of ten consecutive wins.
Currently third overall, 56 points behind series leader Valentino Rossi (Yamaha), Marquez has eight races remaining in which to close the gap. He knows he has a big job ahead of him but there’s no doubt that he is relishing the challenge.
Team-mate Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team RC213V) is also making up ground, following early season surgery to fix an arm-pump problem. Fourteenth overall after the first four rounds – of which he missed three – the former 125 and 250 World Champion is now seventh overall after scoring two podiums at the last four races.
The 29-year-old Spaniard is certainly looking forward to Brno, where he has won two of the past three MotoGP events, in addition to a 250 win in 2005 and a 125 win in 2003.
Cal Crutchlow (CWM LCR Honda RC213V) will be out to make up for a somewhat disappointing Indy, where he qualified a promising fourth fastest but finished the race in eighth place after a first-lap near-miss dropped him to 11th. The Briton knows he has the speed with his RC213V, it’s now only a matter of a little good luck and putting it all together on race day.
Like Crutchlow, Scott Redding (Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS Honda RC213V) is also having his first season on an RC213V, but unlike his compatriot this is also his first year on a factory-spec bike. Last year Redding impressed on an Open-spec Honda but he’s finding the going a little tougher on a factory machine. His current target is to break into the top ten and then continue improving from there.
Four riders campaign Honda’s current Open-spec bike – the RC213V-RS – and they all travel to Brno with the aim of winning MotoGP’s Open category. Top performer so far is rookie Jack Miller (CWM LCR Honda RC213V-RS), with four points-scoring rides. The young Aussie is still in with a chance of the Open title and will be out to get his challenge back on track after a tumble at Indy.
Honda’s 2006 MotoGP World Champion Nicky Hayden (Aspar Team Honda RC213V-RS) finished less than one second out of the points at Indy, so he’ll be fighting hard to get back in the top 15 this Sunday, as will team-mate Eugene Laverty (Aspar Team Honda RC213V-RS) who has been struggling with lingering injuries.
Brno is always a big weekend for Czech star Karel Abraham (AB Motoracing Honda RC213V-RS), and even more so than usual this year because the former Moto2 race winner is coming back from a long layoff following a foot injury sustained at June’s Catalan Grand Prix.
Brno has been part of the World Championship calendar since the mid-1960s, when the nation’s Grand Prix was staged around a 10.92km/6.785 mile street circuit on the outskirts of the city. Mike Hailwood won the 1966 and 1967 500 GPs there on his Honda RC181 four, but eventually the circuit was deemed too dangerous and hosted its last premier-class GP in 1977. It took a decade before the current Brno circuit was completed. Honda has enjoyed great success at this fast, undulating circuit which features many tricky downhill corners that require a perfect chassis set-up. Marquez, Pedrosa, Casey Stoner, Wayne Gardner, Mick Doohan, Tadayuki Okada, Valentino Rossi and Sete Gibernau have all won premier-class races with Honda at the modern Brno venue.
Teams remain at Brno for post-race tests before moving onto round 12, the British GP at Silverstone on 30th August.
Honda MotoGP rider quotes
Marc Marquez, Repsol Honda Team
“It was a tough race in Indianapolis, very demanding, but I’m really happy to have taken two consecutive wins! We were able to enjoy the victory on Sunday night and now we are on our way to the next race. Brno isn’t one of my favourite tracks and I’ve had mixed results there in the past but we arrive there with good momentum and we will work hard to be ready for a battle!”
Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda Team
“Although the result was not what we wanted, I learned some things in Indy and enjoyed the battle with Valentino [Rossi]. I felt more comfortable on the bike and now we head to Brno where I won in 2014. This is a track I really like and I always have a good feeling there. The atmosphere is special and I hope we can repeat our performance from last year. Let’s hope the weather is good for us and we can work 100 percent from FP1.”
Cal Crutchlow, CWM LCR
“I’m looking forward to Brno – we’ll regroup and see what we can do there. Two races back-to-back is always good – I like the back-to-back races to be honest, because if you’ve had a bad result, you don’t have to wait long to try again. We always knew Indianapolis was going to be a difficult weekend. The result was not what we wanted because of some braking issues, so we’re hoping Brno will be kinder to us.”
Scott Redding, Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS
“It looks like we’re heading into a similar situation to Indianapolis this weekend, with extremely hot weather on Friday and Saturday and the possibility of a thunderstorm just to keep us guessing on Sunday. We had some problems on race day in Indianapolis, despite using a similar set-up to the Sachsenring where I was strong, but we already have some ideas as to where we can improve this weekend in Brno, which is a very different track. We left Indianapolis a little frustrated but, like always, we will continue working hard to improve our results.”
Jack Miller, CWM LCR
“Last weekend was good and I was getting more and more confident throughout, so I hope we can start with a similar feeling in Brno and just continue on from where we left off at Indy. Even though we went down in the race I was really happy with how the bike was working and I was feeling comfortable on it. I look forward to Brno – I really like the track.”
Nicky Hayden, Aspar Team
“Brno is a great circuit and it's always a big event there. Unfortunately I didn't get to race last year, after surgery on an old injury. It could be the last time we go there so I am really keen to make sure I sign off with a good result. I guess it won't be an easy weekend for us because the last sector up the hill is one of the places where you need horsepower the most. At Indianapolis we struggled for top speed so we will have to work hard this weekend to change that. I have got a few ideas for some changes to the electronics that should be effective. We will work hard to get the best possible result.”
Eugene Laverty, Aspar Team
“I am excited to be racing at Brno. I think it's a circuit that will suit the characteristics of our bike and we made some good progress with the set-up last weekend. The bike was running well in the race on Sunday, so it was a shame I had some trouble with my left shoulder although I am sure it will be fine this weekend. Brno is a fun circuit to ride, it's fast and slow, and we will be working hard to get a result. I haven't ridden there for a while but I do have some good memories there from my time in Supersport and Superbikes.”
Karel Abraham, AB Motoracing
“It has been difficult being away from the paddock and the racetrack since my crash at Barcelona. And we have been working to get the foot better again, with plenty of physio and general recuperation. I won’t really know how I’ll feel on the bike until we get Friday practice done. Hopefully the foot will be good and I can have a good race for all the Czech fans.”
Marquez and Honda aim for three in a row
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