The factory Repsol Honda team has been unbeaten in the 2014 season, a perfect 12 out of 12 record so far. This weekend’s trip to the Italian Adriatic holiday coast is race number 13. The team and its riders are focused on adding yet another win, to make a baker’s dozen.

The most successful rider of the season is defending champion Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda RC213V), already the youngest premier-class champion in history, winning at his first attempt in 2013. He also has a record to equal: 12 wins in a season, set by Repsol Honda NSR500 rider Mick Doohan in 1997.

Riding high, the 21-year-old overcame off-season injury to win the first ten races of 2014, in a variety of circumstances. But at round 11, the Czech Republic GP at Brno, there was a hiccup – with set-up issues (solved at tests the next day) dropping him to fourth. It was the first time in MotoGP that he had not finished in the top three.

It was back to normality at the next race, a week later, at Silverstone in the United Kingdom. Marquez qualified on pole position, his tenth of the year and fourth in a row, and returned to the winner’s circle for the eleventh time, after a close-fought race with Yamaha-mounted rival Jorge Lorenzo.

Marquez has an enviable record at the Misano World Circuit. In the past four years he has claimed three wins. His first visits were in 2008 and 2009 in the 125cc class, and he was a podium third in 2009. Next year he was first, going on to take the title.

He returned in 2011 and 2012 in Moto2, winning both times, the second from pole position. He went on to add the Moto2 title to his trophy cabinet.

Last year he was on pole again in MotoGP, finishing second in the race.

Experienced team-mate Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC213V) was the rider to break the spell at Brno. The former 125cc and double 250cc champion claimed a clear first win of the year after clocking up several rostrums include three Honda one-two finishes. His win preserved Honda’s perfect score.

His own Misano record includes a race win in 2010; and he has not finished off the podium since 2009 – though a chance of another victory in 2012 was cut short after another rider crashed into him in the opening stages. He had qualified on pole.

Pedrosa had a more troubled start to his ninth premier-class season on the factory Honda, but came back strongly after corrective surgery to solve arm-pump problems; challenging his team-mate strongly at their Catalunyan home race, where he was on pole position.

With seven more podium finishes to add to that Brno win, including three second places, the revived Honda rider lies second overall in the championship, underlining the superiority of the dominant RC213V factory machine.

Two satellite teams also field the class-leading Hondas, with German former Moto2 champion Stefan Bradl (LCR Honda RC213V) the more successful. Bradl lies ninth overall, with a best of fourth at round two, and two fifth places. Crashes and other misfortunes have robbed him of points, however. His best Misano finish of second came in Moto2 in 2011, while in MotoGP he has finished sixth and then a strong fifth.

Alvaro Bautista (GO&FUN Gresini Honda RC213V) is a former Misano winner, winning the 250 race in 2008, two years after becoming 125cc World Champion. Two more Misano podium finishes since include third place in MotoGP in 2012, riding a Honda; and he has claimed another third place this year, in France. But an erratic score line including six crashes puts him eleventh overall.

Redding (GO&FUN Gresini Honda RC213V) rides one of four of the new Honda RCV1000R production racers – a for-sale replica of the V4 factory machines – and is the most successful, in his own debut MotoGP season. The youngest-ever GP winner was fresh from a fierce title fight in Moto2, but had adapted quickly to the premier class, and is a thorn in the side of the lesser factory machines.

Redding has finished in the points in every race but one, with a best of seventh in Qatar, and lies 12th overall, only five points behind his experienced team-mate.

Next-best in the points is former 250cc World Champion Hiroshi Aoyama (Drive M7 Aspar Honda RCV1000R), 14th overall and just one point behind the factory Ducati of Cal Crutchlow. Aoyama has also been a model of consistency, with two top tens among 11 points scores.

His team-mate Nicky Hayden lies 16th, but the American 2006 World Champion has missed the last three rounds recuperating from wrist surgery, and at Misano his place on the Drive M7 Aspar Honda RCV1000R will again be taken by British MotoGP-class novice Leon Camier. The former 125cc GP racer has made a good impression, and finished in the points at only his second attempt.

The fourth Honda production-racer is campaigned by Czech racer Karel Abraham (Cardion AB Motoracing Honda RVC1000R). Ten times in the points and eager to claim top RCV stop, Abraham is one place and one point behind Hayden.

The 4.226-km Misano circuit was first used for motorcycle grand prix racing in 1980, becoming a regular fixture until 1993, when triple champion Wayne Rainey suffered serious injuries at the circuit. It was taken off the calendar directly.

Almost 15 years later, the redesigned Misano World Circuit rejoined the calendar with the rebirth of the San Marino GP in 2007. The greatest change was a reversal of direction to become a clockwise circuit. This introduced a particular challenge at the end of the back straight, where a series of progressively slower right-hand corners require precise judgement, and also test tyres and machine set-up.

The overall layout is tight with a number of slow (below 100 km/h) corners, six left-handers and ten to the right.

The next round, two weeks later, is the Aragon GP at Motorland Aragon.




Repsol Honda rider Marc Marquez says:

“It was nice to be back on the top step of the podium in Silverstone: the team did a great job the whole weekend. Now we head to Misano which is a smaller and slower track compared to others on the calendar. We will have to work hard from Friday to get the setup on the bike just right, to suit the demands on braking at this twisty track and let’s hope the weather is also nice!”

Repsol Honda rider Dani Pedrosa says:

“I’m looking forward to Misano this weekend. There is always a nice crowd over the three days and a good atmosphere with the Italian fans. Hopefully we’ll have good weather from the Friday and get things going in the right direction. It’s a short lap but intense with many overtaking points and it’s quite bumpy, so set up is key. Let’s hope for an exciting race!” v LCR Honda MotoGP rider Stefan Bradl says: “Misano is another exciting race track for me and it’s nice to race there because the Italian crowd is awesome. They do have many racers to support and they keep celebrating Sic’s memory which is something very emotional. It’s an important race for my team too but I do not feel the pressure. I have been fast on this track since my debut in the premier class so I am optimistic.”

GO&FUN Honda Gresini rider Alvaro Bautista says:

“At Silverstone our weekend ended with a fall, however we try to collect the positive things also from a negative race: during the Sunday morning warm up we found a solution that allowed me to improve my feeling with the bike and as a result my race pace was not so bad. Therefore we arrive at Misano knowing that we are on the right path: we will continue to try this set-up solution hoping to make further progress. Misano is a special place, not only because it hosts the team’s home Grand Prix, but also because I have always had good results there in the last few years: if we will have more luck, we will try to exploit it! The important thing, as always, is to keep working hard without becoming demoralized.”

GO&FUN Honda Gresini rider Scott Redding says:

“At Silverstone we were expecting an uphill race weekend because of the long straights, but actually our gap from some of the Factory bikes proved to be not so high; on the contrary, on a quite small track like Misano we need to see if we can be competitive. Paradoxically, we might face more difficulties compared to what we saw in England. In any case, we will keep the same approach we had at Silverstone, which means to try to catch some of the Factory bikes, to see if we can fight with them”.

Drive M7 Aspar Honda rider Hiroshi Aoyama says:

“The last race didn’t go to plan, I don’t like Silverstone much and we struggled to find a good set-up there. I am sure this weekend will be different because I really like Misano and my feeling is usually very good there. It is a tight track and quite unique, you need a good set-up because there are some sections where you can lose a lot of time. Hopefully we can enjoy the weekend at Misano and I am sure the team will do a great job a usual. As usual my goal will be to fight for a top ten finish.”

Cardion AB Motoracing Honda rider Karel Abraham says:

“Following our Silverstone experience we know that we can fight for the top ten in upcoming races. But we can´t do that without completing two crucial targets – make a good qualifying and a good start. We stay focused on it and this is our main target for Misano. It won´t be easy, because I haven´t seen the finish line here since 2011. Last year I missed the race because of the injury, in 2012 we suffered some technical problems. I hope to finish with this series this weekend.”

Drive M7 Aspar Honda rider Leon Camier says:

“I rode at Misano for three years in World Superbikes and it is quite a strange track. It is demanding, with some hard braking, some tight and slow corners, and we are going to have to work very hard to adapt the set-up of the bike. We struggled to get on the pace at Silverstone, maybe because we went the wrong way with the set-up at the start of the weekend and never managed to recover. We have a very clear plan for Misano, we know which direction we need to go in for me to continue learning about this category and this bike. I’ll try to complete as many laps as I can and hopefully we can show our best on Sunday.”

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