Track Report by Tetsuhiro Kuwata [HRC Director]

What is the feeling after another victory in Austin?

We had a very good test in Misano before arriving here in Texas and therefore the whole team and both riders arrived here with extra motivation. The circuit has traditionally been a Honda track, we have won many times here since 2013 – only missing the victory once when Marc fell while leading. This is why we were expecting a great result on Sunday, even if the situation this year has not always been easy. Finally, the result has been amazing, and it comes with an extra special feeling because Marc could win here again and get his second win in what has been a very difficult season for him.

This track is always very demanding physically and this weekend there was added difficulty with the bumps…

Honestly, talking about the whole weekend – we had some troubles, but Marc was able to control himself and managed the bike very well, he knew exactly what to do with the tyres and how he had to ride. We are very pleased with all his efforts.

Marquez’s win was also the 450th podium for the Repsol Honda Team

It’s an amazing number and highlights the great history that Repsol and HRC have made together. It’s especially nice to achieve something like 450 podiums with such a great victory as we had at COTA. It’s a very important win for us and is another step forward for the next race.

The positive and negative points after the race?

This victory is very positive for our team, the people working each weekend at the track and also all those who continue to work at home or back at base. The negative is that unfortunately Pol couldn’t reach the result any of us were expecting. It is also a shame that Taka fell as he had the potential to achieve a good result. His speed was there, and a small mistake cost him a lot.

Finally, what’s the inside story apart from the official comments?

Coming back to the US after two years was very good news. We had the opportunity to also meet Jett and Hunter Lawrence, two young Honda Supercross riders who have delivered very strong results this year. Including more of the Honda racing family is something we have missed dearly in these past two seasons. But there’s no time to look back and we are already thinking about Misano, where we go to for the second time this season. We have a lot of data from the race and also the test there. We hope with this we can improve our performance and fight for the podium yet again.