Honda Teams bag champs in Q1 Race Competitions

Manila Philippines—April 13, 2019—Honda’s Dream Team racers stay on top of their leagues despite Marc Marquez, reigning world champion of Repsol-Honda, fell short of 0.023 seconds behind Andrea Dovizioso, while fellow Honda teammate Cal Crutchlow emerged third during the MotoGP Round on Sunday.

Marquez raced against Dovioso over 22 laps as team member Cal Crutchlow tailed closely behind during the tilt held at Losail, Qatar. Both showcased strong races despite injuries attained the previous year, with Marquez having an operated shoulder and Crutchlow breaking his ankle in last October’s Australian Grand Prix.

The race finished in a similar fashion to the previous year’s Qatar Grand Prix. Marquez ran wide when he tried passing Andrea to reach the finish line.

Preparations for the MotoGP race were grueling, especially that Marquez had his first ride on a MotoGP bike after undergoing surgery for his left shoulder last December as tropical temperatures in Sepang reached 60 degrees every afternoon. Crutchlow, on the other hand, displayed confidence this season despite having an injury that caused minor swelling in his ankle.

Another 1st for Honda Team Asia

Meanwhile, other Honda racers also bagged big wins. Kaito Toba of Honda Team Asia emerged the Moto3 World Championship making him the first Japanese to win the event. He swept ahead of the Italian Dalla Porta and Poleman Aron Canet, grabbing the checkered flag with a speed of 0.053 seconds.

Toba started out from the middle but recovered in the lead group. The lead was changing every lap and Toba used the slipstream effect to his advantage. The Japanese rider tucked his head down and found himself in a three-way fight with Dalla Porta and Canet for the win.

Toba then took full advantage of the slipstream and powered past the others to take the flag in P1. Dalla Porta settled for P2 and Canet with Max Biaggi stood for third at the podium in scenic Qatar.

A clean sweep in Malaysia

Rider Md Zaqhwan Zaidi of Honda Asia-Dream Racing with SHOWA Team is the winner of Race2 held in Sepang Malaysia on March 10. The team initially had problems with the machine during Race 1 and made sure that everything worked well for the second round to win.

Ambient temperatures hit a sweltering 34 degrees Celsius for Race 1, covering the track with 61.8 degrees. Keeping his cool, Zaidi and Apiwat Wongthananon of Yamaha tried to keep up with Thitipong Warokorn of Kawasaki and Azlan Shah Kamaruzaman of BMW. The leading riders were evenly spaced for the first half of the race but Zaidi’s bike took him off track during a struggle for third place.

Race 2 saw rains drenching down temperatures to 35 degrees. Fast clouds eventually pounded torrent as Zaidi kept closing on the lead rider, keeping a gap of more than three seconds into the final lap. Zaidi took first while Warokorn finished second.

Md. Zaqhwan Zaidi is the ace rider of the new team formed through Honda’s Asian subsidiaries joining forces with Showa, a manufacturer of high-performance automotive, motorcycle, and outboard suspension systems based in Gyoda, Saitama. Honda’s Asia-Dream Racing competed in the Asia Road Racing Championship’s new ASB1000 class.

Former MotoGP Makoto Tamada led the team and was also responsible for spreading motorsports across the Asia region. Both Zaidi and Tamada have worked hard to succeed in the new class after being involved in the JSB1000 class in Japan last season.

Honda Motor Company, Ltd. presented a dream team of racers whom all did their best amidst injuries and harsh climate.

The motorcycling company has consistently refined its technological and human resources in sharing fun and inspirational moments with its customers through joyful experiences.

Ripping Racing as Michelin and Marquez Master Motorland

Michelin’s first visit to MotorLand Aragón in Spain for a MotoGP™ race provided an exciting encounter which saw Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) take victory at the Gran Premio

Movistar de Aragón.

Michelin’s range of Power Slick tyres were put to good use today as the riders chose many different configurations to get the best performance over the 5,077m circuit. Pole-setter Marquez chose to go with the hard front and rear compounds and he made a good start as the lights changed to signal the start of the race. The current championship leader initially got the holeshot, but a frantic first-lap ensued as the lead changed hands several times. Maverick Viñales (Team SUZUKI ECSTAR) - also using the hard front and rear option - led as the field crossed the line for the first time, a position that was taken from him on lap-two by Marquez, before Viñales then recaptured the lead and held it until lap-eight. The Suzuki rider then surrendered top-spot to Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP), who had chosen the medium front compound and paired it with the hard rear. Marquez then made his move and seized the initiative on lap-12 as he progressed to the front of the pack. The Spaniard continued at a relentless pace - which saw him set the fastest lap of the race on the 15th circulation. Marquez increased his advantage as the race drew to a close and crossed the line almost three-seconds clear to take his fourth victory of the season and extend his championship lead.

The crowd of 69,714 fans at trackside were treated to a fascinating battle for the final two podium places as Jorge Lorenzo (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) and team-mate Rossi produced an enthralling contest which saw the current World Champion Lorenzo - medium front and hard rear - take the spoils after the pair had traded places over the closing stages. Viñales took fourth position, with Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda) crossing the line in fifth to take the Independent Team Rider award, this was after an exciting three-way battle with Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team) in sixth and Aleix Espargaro (Team SUZUKI ECSTAR) seventh. Pol Espargaro (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) was eighth, followed home by Alvaro Bautista (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) in ninth, with Stefan Brad l (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) rounding out the top-10.

With today’s colder air and track temperatures, tyre choice was always going to be a vital factor and with the experience and advice from the knowledgeable Michelin technicians the riders were able to make informed choices. This did lead to different combinations of tyres which saw the hard front and hard rear paired together, along with the medium front and hard rear and the medium front and medium rear being matched together, again emphasising the choice that Michelin is providing to make sure all riders have a tyre to choose that will give them the optimum performance during the race.

Michelin will now head east for the three-week back-to-back races in Japan, Australia and Malaysia, with the first being the Japanese Grand Prix at Motegi on Sunday 16th October.

Marc Marquez – Repsol Honda Team:

“Today was a great race and this has been an important weekend for the tyres to work well. The grip was really good, but the drop was a bit bigger than at other circuits, because here we have long corners and we really stress the tyres. We found a good set-up for the second part of the race with the used tyre and the front was working really well. Michelin brought the hard front and it was certainly the right one for these temperatures. I am happy with the weekend because I enjoy this circuit and this year it was no different, I really enjoyed it again!”

Nicolas Goubert - Deputy Director, Technical Director and Supervisor of the  MotoGP

Programme:

“We have had quite a challenging weekend here at Aragón with temperatures being much cooler in the  morning  than  we  expected,  so  this  gave  a  number  of  obstacles  to  overcome.  All of  the technicians worked very thoroughly with their teams and riders throughout the three days to make sure they made the most informed choice for today’s race, and the closeness of some of the racing showed that  again  we  have  tyres  for all types  of  machines,  riders  and  styles.  Marc’s  victory  was  very impressive and he set the fastest lap of the race after two-thirds distance, so we are very pleased with that as it shows the tyres worked well as the race wore on. We will take a lot of positives from this weekend, but we also learned quite a lot about how these tyres perform when the track gives very little grip during the cold mornings and we will use this data as we go forward. We now head to three long-haul races which will all have their own special challenges, but we are up for the task and excited by what is ahead.”

*This is Press Release