Rd.12 British GP - Track Report

Track Report by Alberto Puig [Repsol Honda Team - Team Manager]

After the summer, we were waiting for improvements with the bike but unfortunately, we could not see anything in the results from Silverstone.

It was again an unsuccessful weekend for us. We still could not get rid of the problems we have and it’s affecting our performance and limiting the potential of our riders. We are continuing on the hunt for these new parts that can help us to go back to normal and perform as we are used to performing.

There is a big gap compared to the other bikes during Qualifying on Saturday, is this what is making the races so complicated? Where is the biggest problem?

If you start from the fifth or sixth row of the grid in this championship, your chances of making a good race are very low because you lose so much time at the beginning. You cannot overtake and therefore if you are not performing in Qualifying, you cannot get a good grid position, and everything is difficult. So finally, everything is a consequence of this and the race is the final result. Clearly, we have to improve on Saturday.

Pol Espargaro was five seconds faster than last year and his pace in the second part of the race was close to the top riders. Is this the unique positive point from the British GP?

I would not say this is a positive. I believe we still have to find a way to improve on Saturday, so we are not starting the races from so far behind. Then we could have some more options, but it is complicated.

Honda won the Suzuka 8 Hours this weekend.

It is important and we are very happy with this victory in Suzuka. But we also have to keep thinking of Gino Rea and we are very sad about his accident, and we hope he can recover. On the other hand, we are in MotoGP and our duty is to return to being competitive and bring a bike that can start to win races.