A couple of days later, the news coming from Japan doesn't seem that positive, as HRC chief Shuhei Nakamoto hinted that working conditions at the Saitama plant are tough despite the fact that the company's personnel hasn't been affected by the tragic events. What that means in terms of Honda's MotoGP programme is that it may be affected through the 2011 campaign of the series.
“As HRC, we have been lucky with no big problems, even if now it is difficult to work at our head office – we can work only five hours per day due to the power restrictions put in place,” said Nakamoto in a statement.
He added that the plant is also hard to access by the Honda employees these days, as only 50 percent of the trains leading to it are functional. In addition, the personnel who wants to reach their working offices by car are having problems with loading their cars with fuel, as all fuel stations in the region are closed.
With limited working hours comes inability to produce the desired parts for Honda's MotoGP operations, who will kick off its 2011 programme from as early as this weekend, in Qatar. While not affected for the season opener, the team might feel a potential parts shortage later in the season.
“Many of them (suppliers) cannot work at the moment, and this is a potential problem for the racing activities in the coming weeks. So far we have all spare parts we need for Qatar and Jerez races, but after that, if the situation will not change, we will have to manage this carefully,” he also stressed.
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