In a dramatic turn of events at the Circuit of the Americas (COTA), Alex Rins secured a thrilling victory in the Grand Prix after forcing Francesco Bagnaia into another crash.
Alex Rins claims LCR Honda’s 100th podium in MotoGP.
Fabio Quartararo snatching first podium of the season.
The race started with Bagnaia making a brilliant start and holding off Rins into turn one. However, the factory Ducati team’s luck was short-lived as Jorge Martin and Alex Marquez clashed, resulting in crashes for both riders.
Meanwhile, Jack Miller made a significant move up the order to position himself in third, closing in on Rins and Bagnaia. However, Miller’s charge ultimately ended as he crashed out of the race on lap seven. As the race progressed, Bagnaia continued to lead despite pressure from Rins, with Quartararo in third position.
However, just like in the previous Sprint race, Bagnaia made another crucial error, crashing out of the Grand Prix on lap 14, allowing Rins to take over the lead. Luca Marini then blasted past Quartararo with eight laps remaining, showing the immense speed of his Ducati. But Rins managed to control the gap and secure his victory, just his third race for Honda.
The race witnessed three crashes in short order as Takaaki Nakagami kicked things off before Brad Binder and Joan Mir joined him. Maverick Vinales showed good pace, making overtakes on Binder and Miguel Oliveira to secure a position in the top ten.
The COTA Grand Prix provided fans with plenty of action and drama, with Rins emerging as the ultimate victor. Bagnaia, on the other hand, will need to regroup after another Grand Prix crash.
Juara dunia enam kali MotoGP, Marc Marquez menafikan dakwaan bahawa dia akan meninggalkan Honda dan menegaskan dia kekal komited dengan pasukan itu.
Marquez menandatangi kontrak empat tahun sehingga 2024, beberapa bulan sebelum mengalami kecederaan serius di bahagian tangan kanan.
Meskipun Marquez kembali pulih selepas menjalani pembedahan keempat pada Jun tahun lalu, pasukan Repsol Honda gagal memberi saingan terhadap perebutan kejuaraan dunia.
Oleh sebab itu, timbul khabar angin bahawa Marquez akan meninggalkan Honda dengan mengaktifkan klausa dalam kontraknya pada 2024.
Bagaimanapun, Marquez menepis dakwaan tersebut dalam satu temu bual bersama MotoGP.com.
“Saya ada baki dua tahun lagi dengan Honda dan impian saya adalah untuk kembali ke puncak bersama Honda.
“Saya mempercayai mereka sepenuhnya, dan kami menghormati antara satu sama lain. Saya percaya kami akan keluar daripada situasi ini,” jelasnya.
Dalam perkembangan sama, Repsol Honda turut mempersembahkan jentera dan warna yang akan diguna pakai pada musim 2023. Seperti dijangka, warna ikonik Honda dan Repsol dikekalkan pada jentera RC213V itu.
Bagi musim 2023, Marquez akan beraksi dengan rakan sepasukan baharu, Joan Mir yang berhijrah dari Suzuki.
Six-time MotoGP world champion Marc Marquez secured his first MotoGP pole since 2019 after clocking the fastest time in Q2 at The Japanese Grand Prix.
Marquez returns to pole position after three years at Motegi ahead of Johann Zarco and Brad Binder.
Quartararo will start at the third row of the grid in ninth place.
Marquez showcased spectacular form on Saturday despite a disastrous comeback last week at Aragon after he collided with Fabio Quartararo and Takaaki Nakagami.
The Repsol Honda rider managed to hold off late charges from Johann Zarco and Brad Binder to claim his first pole position this season.
Marquez set impressive opening laps in tricky conditions before Fabio Quartararo, and Johann Zarco bettered his time.
However, the Spaniard regained the top spot with another flying lap to get clear of Zarco and Brad Binder.
Both Zarco and Binder tried to respond in the final minute but lost time compared to Marquez.
Meanwhile, current title contender Aleix Espargaro finished sixth, while the current championship leader, Quartararo, could only secure the ninth spot.
Nonetheless, it was a shocking Q2 for the on-form rider, Francesco Bagnaia, as he will start at P12.
Joan Mir akan terus beraksi di kelas premier MotoGP bagi musim 2023 setelah disahkan menjadi pelumba pasukan Repsol Honda musim depan.
Honda Racing Corporation (HRC) dalam satu kenyatana rasmi kepada media mengumumkan perkara tersebut.
Menurut HRC, pelumba berusia 24 tahun itu akan beraksi dengan jentera Honda RC213V bersama pasukan factory setelah mengikat kontrak dua tahun.
Ini bermakna, bekas juara dunia MotoGP musim 2020 itu akan dipadankan bersama Marc Marquez musim depan.
Pengumuman itu pastinya sesuatu yang dinantikan Mir setelah masa depannya terumbang-ambing ekoran penarikan diri Suzuki dari kejuaraan dunia MotoGP, sebelum ini.
Mir ketika ini sedang menjalani proses pemulihan selepas mengalami kecederaan serius ekoran kemalangan ‘highside’ di litar Red Bull Ring di Austria.
Dia juga akan terlepas aksi hujung minggu ini di Misano dengan tempatnya akan digantikan dengan pelumba Suzuki Endurance Racing Team, Kazuki Watanabe.
Alex Rins will ride on board the Honda RC213V machine at the 2023 MotoGP season after putting pen to paper on a two-year deal with LCR Honda.
LCR Honda Castrol Team officially announced Alex Rins as the new rider for 2023.
Rins agreed a two-year deal to join LCR Honda.
The 26-year will ride join LCR Honda at the of the 2022 season after Suzuki decided to terminate their participation in MotoGP.
“I am very happy to be joining the LCR Honda Team. Changing team and bike is a challenge but I am ready to give my 100% and to put into practice everything that I’ve learnt during my years in the MotoGP class.
“Lucio and Honda’s trust has been crucial for me in deciding to take on this challenge with this factory. I would like to thank them for this opportunity,” said Rins.
LCR Honda Team Manager, Lucio Cecchinello, is also delighted with the new signing.
“I am delighted to announce that Álex Rins will be the LCR Honda CASTROL rider in 2023. We’ve just finished signing the contract, all 3 parties, so we are finally able to announce it. Rins is an experienced rider, a fast rider and a podium finisher.
“This wealth of experience, coupled with Rins’ ability to give the precise suggestions to his technicians, as I’ve heard, will surely help us to improve our our bike package, aiming to fight for more podium,” he said.
Meanwhile, LCR Honda reportedly will also announce Moto2 rider Ai Ogura as Rins’ new team-mate for the upcoming season in place of Takaaki Nakagami.
Repsol Honda mengesahkan bahawa Marc Marquez akan kembali bersaing hujung minggu ini di GP Amerika.
Juara dunia lapan kali itu telah pun terlepas dua pusingan sebelum ini sejak mengalami kecederaan serius sewaktu sesi pemanas badan di Litar Mandalika, Mac lalu.
Marquez turut terlepas saingan GP Argentina apabila disahkan mengalami diplopia (pandangan berganda) kali kedua.
Bagaimanapun, pelumba berusia 29 tahun itu telah pun menyempurnakan rawatan konservatif dan akan kembali membuat penampilan pada pusingan 4 di Austin, Texas, bermula dengan sesi ujian bebas pada Jumaat.
Walaupun mempunyai rekod cemerlang di COTA (Circuit of the Americas), Marquez hanya akan memfokuskan pusingan kali ini untuk kembali membiasakan diri dengan jentera RC213V.
Aksi MotoGP kembali bersambung hujung minggu ini dengan pelumba Aprilia, Aleix Espargaro meneruskan saingan selaku pendahulu kejuaraan setelah memenangi pusingan ketiga di Argentina.
Espargaro kini mendahului dengan 45 mata diikuti Brad Binder (KTM), 38 mata dan Enea Bastianini (Pramac) 36 mata manakala pertahan juara, Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha) di kedudukan kelima dengan 35 mata.
Honda is scheduled to unveil its 2022 RC213V race bike on January 14, 2022.
However, the global unveiling will take place without six-time MotoGP world champion, Marc Marquez who is still nursing his injured eye.
Instead, Repsol Honda has confirmed that the event will continue with Pol Espargaro and LCR Honda riders, Takaaki Nakagami and Alex Marquez.
Missing out on the bike unveiling is not an issue for the Honda camp, however, Marquez’s latest diplopia (double vision) diagnosis is still a concern as there is no confirmation if he could make it on time ahead of the Sepang test in February.
The Spaniard suffered the injury at the 2021 Algarve GP, but HRC only reported it as a concussion before the team confirmed the rider is struggling with diplopia.
Nevertheless, we hope Marquez could still make it back just in time for the pre-season test in Sepang or at least given enough time to test out the updated RC213V.
Pol Espargaro is struggling with Repsol Honda RC213V, apart from yet to clinch a podium finish in the 2021 MotoGP season; he currently accumulates the most crashes in the first half of the season.
According to the stats, the Spanish rider went down 13 times this season and comfortably leading the crash chart with three crashes ahead of his brother Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia), Iker Lecuona (Tech3) and Alex Marquez (LCR Honda).
To make matters worse, his former team, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, is soaring this season with the likes of Miguel Oliveira and Brad Binder.
With 13 crashes, Espargaro is on course to surpass Johann Zarco’s 2019 and 2020 tally of 19 and 17 crashes, respectively.
The youngest of the Espargaro’s currently sits at the 12th spot in the championship with just 41 points after nine rounds.
The 2021 MotoGP season will resume in August at the Grand Prix of Styria.
Pol Espargaro revealed that he needs to start copying his Repsol Honda teammate, Marc Marquez, as soon as possible.
Marquez was back to winning ways after securing another MotoGP win at the Sachsenring.
The Spaniard produced a sensational ride throughout the 30 lap race to claimed his first win after 581 days.
The victory was an eye-opening moment for Espargaro, who lost 14 seconds behind Marquez.
“From now on, I think I’m going to just try to copy Marc’s setting, Marc’s chassis because he’s using different than us.
“I’m going to copy his line (direction). Until that moment, we were not very far away from rhythm, from lap times, but this race, it’s a step.
“For sure, I’m very happy for the team and for all the guys that have been working so much, even for Marc. But the point is that for sure Marc shows the performance today of the bike, and I need to be on the level.
“So the only way I see is to copy his setting, his bike, his chassis as soon as possible,” said the 30-year old rider.
According to Espargaro, all four Honda riders, including Alex Marquez and Takaaki Nakagami, do not share the same package.
We had the opportunity to ride the Honda RC213V-S MotoGP replica.
It was part of Boon Siew Honda’s Year-End Gathering for the media.
The RC213V-S was unlike no other motorcycle on the planet.
When it comes to motorcycle racing, I still romanticise what many regard as the “Golden Age of Motocycle GP.” Yes, those times were exciting, seeing riders getting spat off their 500cc two-stroker beasts without warning.
The modern-day four-stroke MotoGP machines look tamer on the other hand, but would any of us mere mortals dare claim they’d be easy to ride? So, when Sep informed that we were invited to ride the million-Ringgit (EUR 188,000) RC213V-S at SIC, every nerve cell hit the rev limiter.
Honda introduced the RC213V-S during EICMA in 2015. Hailed as the closest replica to the bikes ridden by works riders Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa, it was a MotoGP bike for the masses.
Each RC213V-S is hand-built in a special workshop in the Kumamoto factory, with some parts sourced directly from the MotoGP bike like the swingarm, slipper clutch, magnesium alloy 17-inch Marchesini wheels, Öhlins forks, adjustable footpegs and pedals, and parts of the Brembo brakes. Other directly trickled down tech include the (partly) underseat fuel tank, and carbon-fibre reinforced plastic bodywork which is fastened with titanium bolts.
Besides those, the RC213V-S also features ride-by-wire throttle, power modes, traction control, engine-brake control, and position detection. The engine has the same configuration as the MotoGP too, a 990cc V-4 with titanium conrods, the only difference being the seamless transmission (a mainstay of MotoGP bikes) pioneered by Honda, and conventional valve springs in place of pneumatic ones.
Another difference is of course the brake discs. They are steel items on the road bike, instead of carbon.
It’s worth mentioning that the 80 percent of the parts on the RC213V-S are interchangeable with the full-on race machine. As it is, the RC213V-S is sold (or was sold if they’re sold out) to rev up to 12,000 RPM (US models rev up to 9400 RPM only due to noise restrictions). Customers could shell out another EUR 12,000 for a race kit that takes it up to 14,000 RPM.
Outwardly, and apart from not wearing the orange Repsol paint scheme, the bike looked no different from the bikes Marc and Dani used to destroy the competition. The headlights are installed into the gaping intake at tip of the upper fairing, but everything else like the exhausts and tail section screamed Honda MotoGP.
The front pair of cylinders vent exhaust gases through a pipe down low on the right side, while the rear pair exit through a pipe under the seat.
Up top, the controls on the handlebars were simple, devoid of the colourful Playstation-like buttons and a small LCD is placed up front. The handlebars are attached to the forks with beefy clamps below the beautifully finished top triple clamp which has the production number stamped on it. The rearview mirrors are attached to the ends of the handlebars.
That’s when I noticed the warning sticker on the tank. Right at the end was a symbol that says, “RON 98.” It means that an owner in Malaysia could only fill up with RON 100 at Petron or Shell’s V-Power Racing. And bring along a few bottles of X-1R Octane Booster.
Oi, enough talk. How was it to ride?
It’s definitely much, much smaller than how it appeared in any photo. Sitting on it felt like sitting on a CBR250, but when I grabbed the bar and sat up straight, I found myself looking over the top of the screen. Everything has been packed close to the rider for mass centralization. But it was surprisingly not uncomfortable. Racebikes of years past were uncomfortable, but the RC213V-S felt like any roadgoing sportbike. Heck, it felt a lot like the CBR1000RR Fireblade with racing footpegs.
While we ogled at the street version, Boon Siew Honda crew fired up a race-spec RC213V. You see, BSH had invited Khairul Idham Pawi and Zahqwan Zaidi as guest riders and they were given the opportunity to ride the real deal (the RC213V, not the MotoGP bike, though).
Everyone dropped whatever they were doing and rushed to over to bear witness! Khairul got off the bike and a BSH crew started blipping the throttle to warm it up. We’ve heard the Honda MotoGP bikes from the Grandstand and around the track, but this was the first time we were up close. That rasp and bark from the exhausts plus the mechanical sounds couldn’t be properly described in words, but it sure gouged itself into everyone’s brains. (Check out the video below.)
It was time to head out, with Zahqwan leading my group.
The Honda RC213V-S uses a proximity switch so they key fob had to be carried in my suit. Thumbed the starter button the first time and the LCD screen came to life. Thumbed it the second time and…. It fired up… While I wasn’t expecting the bark of the RC213V, I didn’t expect the RC213V-S came to life so subtly like a… a… very soft CB650F that I rode in the morning. What the… but still, I’m on a MotoGP replica, so who’s to complain?
With all the BSH brass and crew looking on, and telling myself not to wheelie over backwards, I slipped out the clutch lever so carefully that I almost stalled it. It hadn’t been necessary as the bike was so smooth on pick up.
Out on the warm up lap, the RC213V-S was so easy to turn and burn, although we were taking it easy to warm the tyres up and acquaint ourselves to the bike.
We had a mock start from the grid. Zahqwan just blasted off into the horizon, leaving his exhaust note reverberating around inside our helmets.
The RC213V-S felt slow leaving the line, but whoa! It felt like I ran into a brick wall just almost as soon as I left the line. Other journos who had ridden the bike during the Honda Asian Journey Ride not long ago had warned us about the rev limit being capped. The bike I was on was limited to 7000 RPM, while there were a few others that revved to 9000 RPM.
But no matter, while it felt slow, it was actually picking up speed deceptively fast! And with the rev limit being blocked, I went through the gears like there’s no tomorrow.
Accelerating out of Turn 2, it was like short-shifting to third, fourth and fifth for the sweeping Turn 3. The bike just tipped over on its side even with the power fully on as I engaged the gears. The quickshifter was ultra-ultra-smooth so much so I didn’t even give two thoughts about it. I had wondered if I got to experience the seamless gearbox!
Braking for Turn 4 with two fingers had the front brakes bled off too much speed, so the bike dropped into the corner like an MX bike.
Sweeping through Turn 5 in fifth, I kept rolling on the throttle, having forgotten about the rev limiter. It cut in just as the bike neared the apex. Now, on any other bike, having the power cut i.e. chopping the throttle or hitting the rev limiter, is bad news as it’ll cause an abrupt weight transfer and change of traction, usually resulting in the bike wobbling or worse, standing up. But it didn’t happen on the RC213V-S, I just hugged its line as if nothing happened.
Now I started to worry about the rev limiter so I slowed down for the corners and decided to just blast down the main straight.
Since we were only using the North Track, I gunned the throttle as soon as I cleared the extra corner after Turn 6 all the way onto the straight. The bike ate up all the gears as fast I could feed it and I was already on the limiter just before halfway on the straight, which read 180 km/h.
The RCV213V-S felt slow, but its engine had plenty of kick and revved really quickly. Conversely on the CBR650F earlier, it only hit 179 km/h in sixth about 300m to Turn 1. Was I experiencing Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity firsthand?
How I wished Honda had raised the rev limit a little higher, say to 10,000 RPM.
We pulled into the pits four laps later. Although I was very thankful to have sampled the bike, I was also unsatisfied that I couldn’t go faster from worrying about the rev limiter.
The conclusion is this: The Honda RC213V-S is a superlative bike that’s unlike any other. I’ve never experienced a bike which t feels benign at high speed, that’s for sure.
The test session was a special event as part of Boon Siew Honda’s year-end gathering for the media, after having just celebrated their 60th anniversary in Malaysia.
During the welcoming session, BSH announced that sales had increased by 18% in 2017 from the previous year, having move 122,150 number of motorcycles (as of date of the event). But moving forward to 2018, BSH hopes to recapture its former Number One position in the market.
Datuk Sri Datuk Wira Tan Hui Jing, Deputy Chairman and Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Boon Siew Honda provided the outline, “We are targeting to introduce 10 new models and will certainly surprise everyone with our product lineup.”
As mentioned earlier, Zahqwan Zaidi and Khairul Idham Pawi were present during the event after campaigning in the Asia Road Racing Championship (ARRC) and Moto2 seasons, respectively. Mr. Nobuhide Nagata, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of BSH announced that Zaqhwan will move up to the All Japan Road Race Championship (JSB1000) next year.
Also revealed was BSH’s plans to build the first Honda Big Wing exclusive one-stop sales and service centre in 2018 in the Klang Valley, followed by Penang, Selangor and Johor.
