Photo: motogp.com
If we were to be a bit blunt, the start of the 2015 MotoGP season is more or less a catastrophic one for HRC. Marquez failed to find his pace in the first five races, while Pedrosa was forced to sit out of three due to surgery.
Marquez managed to win only one race (COTA) and finish second once (Jerez), and now sits fourth in the world standing. However, his 69 points put a gap that can't be overlooked between him and the leader, Rossi, who so far earned 102 points.
Behind Marquez, Ducati's Andrea Iannone, who has 61 points, looks to be stronger and stronger aboard the new Desmosedici GP15. In the race at Le Mans, Iannone and Marquez battled fiercely for the fourth position down to the wire, and the Italian showed that he could give the Spaniard quite a hard time.
Still we wonder how things would've rolled out had Iannone not been riding with a dislocated shoulder...The truth is that 2015 is no 2013 and definitely nowhere near the stellar 2014 when Marquez won the first ten rounds.
Pedrosa's arm pump issues had to be solved with a very invasive surgery, and he was sidelined for three rounds. HRC went for test rider Aoyama substituting for Pedrosa but he could not be on par with the top riders.
All hopes used to lie with Marquez... but he also failed to live up to HRC's expectations. Even though Suppo tells Spanish newspaper Marca that the team's faith in Marquez is infinite, and the Spaniard's trust in the capabilities of his team is equally strong.
Suppo is rather cautious in saying that what the media declared last year, namely that the Honda was a superior machine to Yamaha, even when the Yamaha used to win, was a far stretch of the truth. That is, because Honda was a better bike at certain venues, whereas Yamaha had the upper hand on other tracks.
That's why Suppo now says that there's no actual crisis over at Honda. While HRC men themselves never claim to have been superior in the past, this translates to not necessarily having made errors this year, Suppo tells the Spanish media. "Last year they said that Honda was better than Yamaha, even when they made first and second at the end. They said we had a technical advantage, but we said it was not. Yamaha was superior in some tracks and Honda, in others. This has been and always will be. Just as you could not say we were technically superior, now you can not say we are bad," he adds.
The truth is that Honda has a lot of work to do, especially as the next two rounds will take place on circuits that are more to Yamaha's and Ducati's liking. At Barcelona Rossi won 6 times and Lorenzo 3 times, while Mugello is Ducati's "backyard" circuit, so Honda would do better to avoid taking risks and making any mistakes if they want to make these two count.
Behind Marquez, Ducati's Andrea Iannone, who has 61 points, looks to be stronger and stronger aboard the new Desmosedici GP15. In the race at Le Mans, Iannone and Marquez battled fiercely for the fourth position down to the wire, and the Italian showed that he could give the Spaniard quite a hard time.
Still we wonder how things would've rolled out had Iannone not been riding with a dislocated shoulder...The truth is that 2015 is no 2013 and definitely nowhere near the stellar 2014 when Marquez won the first ten rounds.
Livio Suppo says there is no real crisis
The sports media started to talk about a crisis between Honda and Marc Marquez, as the team's expectations have been even greater with him being the only rider who could bring solid points.Pedrosa's arm pump issues had to be solved with a very invasive surgery, and he was sidelined for three rounds. HRC went for test rider Aoyama substituting for Pedrosa but he could not be on par with the top riders.
All hopes used to lie with Marquez... but he also failed to live up to HRC's expectations. Even though Suppo tells Spanish newspaper Marca that the team's faith in Marquez is infinite, and the Spaniard's trust in the capabilities of his team is equally strong.
Suppo is rather cautious in saying that what the media declared last year, namely that the Honda was a superior machine to Yamaha, even when the Yamaha used to win, was a far stretch of the truth. That is, because Honda was a better bike at certain venues, whereas Yamaha had the upper hand on other tracks.
That's why Suppo now says that there's no actual crisis over at Honda. While HRC men themselves never claim to have been superior in the past, this translates to not necessarily having made errors this year, Suppo tells the Spanish media. "Last year they said that Honda was better than Yamaha, even when they made first and second at the end. They said we had a technical advantage, but we said it was not. Yamaha was superior in some tracks and Honda, in others. This has been and always will be. Just as you could not say we were technically superior, now you can not say we are bad," he adds.
The truth is that Honda has a lot of work to do, especially as the next two rounds will take place on circuits that are more to Yamaha's and Ducati's liking. At Barcelona Rossi won 6 times and Lorenzo 3 times, while Mugello is Ducati's "backyard" circuit, so Honda would do better to avoid taking risks and making any mistakes if they want to make these two count.
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