HONDA’S MARQUEZ READY FOR HIS FAVOURITE RACETRACK

2014-09-23 12:56
The Repsol Honda team returns to Spain for the
third time this year with the aim of getting back
to its winning ways following its first defeat in
13 races at Misano two weeks ago. Runaway title
leader Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda RC213V) was
once again in the fight for victory at the
Italian track, until he slid off without injury.

Already 11 times a winner this year, the
21-year-old reigning World Champion will arrive
at Aragón with a 74 point series lead over
team-mate Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC213V). The
Spanish pair can count on huge home-crowd support
this weekend at the recently constructed venue
situated 200km (125 miles) inland from Barcelona,
Spain’s motorcycling heartland.

Marquez has had a near perfect title-defence
season so far, with 11 wins, one fourth-place
finish and one 15th place two weeks ago after he
had remounted and restarted at Misano. That
tumble came as the youngster battled with veteran
Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) at the Italian’s home
track. Many riders in Marquez’s position would
have preferred to ease off and finish a
comfortable second but it is in Marquez’s nature
to fight for victory whenever possible. This is
the attitude that has won him such a massive
global following in only his second season in the class of kings.

Marquez certainly has form at Aragón, his
favourite track on the calendar. Last year he
beat reigning World Champion Jorge Lorenzo
(Yamaha) in his first MotoGP ride at the track
and in 2011 he won the Moto2 race.

Pedrosa has also enjoyed success at
start-of-the-art Aragón, which was constructed in
2009 and 2010 outside the historic city of
Alcaniz. He finished second to Casey Stoner in
2010 and 2011, then won the 2012 race ahead of
Lorenzo. Last September he was once again in the
fight for victory when he was sidelined by a
freak incident. The rear of his machine was
tagged by Marquez, the contact disabling
Pedrosa’s traction-control system, which caused
him to fall. This year he will work to return to
the top step of the podium to extend his slender
one-point advantage over Rossi.

Last year Stefan Bradl (LCR Honda RC213V) scored
a fifth-place finish at Aragón and on this visit
the former Moto2 World Champion will be aiming to
get back inside the top five after sliding out of
the San Marino Grand Prix a fortnight ago. The
German has had an up-and-down 2014 so far, with
two front-row starts proving that he has the
speed when things work in his favour.

Alvaro Bautista (Team GO&FUN Honda Gresini
RC213V) sits ten points behind Bradl in the
championship chase, his 2014 challenge dented by
a number of crashes in races. The Spaniard had a
great ride at Aragón last September, finishing
less than a second off the podium in fourth place
after an entertaining battle with Rossi and Bradl.

Scott Redding (Team GO&FUN Honda Gresini
RCV1000R) goes into the 14th race of his rookie
MotoGP season with a huge weight off his
shoulders. Two weeks ago it was confirmed that he
will be equipped with an RC213V for his 2015
MotoGP campaign. So far this year the Briton has
been the stand-out performer on Honda’s
production MotoGP bike, the RCV1000R. Redding is
currently 12th in the championship, between
Bautista and factory Ducati rider Cal Crutchlow,
and knows he goes well at Aragón where last year
he finished fourth in the Moto2 race after
fighting through from 13th on the grid.

Hiroshi Aoyama (Drive 7 Aspar Honda RCV1000R)
plans to continue his super-consistent form as
one of only five riders to have scored in every
race so far this season. The former 250 World
Champion is currently the second RCV1000R in the
championship with two top-ten finishes, in Argentina and at Indianapolis.

At Misano Karel Abraham (Cardion AB Motoracing
Honda RCV1000R) achieved his first victory in the
Open class, for non-factory bikes. His confidence
boosted by that result, the former Moto2 Grand
Prix winner aims to continue his battle with his
fellow Open class riders at Aragón.

Nicky Hayden (Drive 7 Aspar Honda RCV1000R) hopes
to race again on Sunday for the first time since
July’s German GP after recovering from further
surgery to fix an old and troublesome wrist
injury. The 2006 MotoGP World Champion had
previously missed June’s Italian GP to undergo
surgery, but after several more races he
understood that a further operation was
necessary. Hayden has been riding dirt track at
home in the States to prepare for his comeback.

Tito Rabat (Marc VDS Racing Team, Kalex) has won
the last three races in the Honda-powered Moto2
series to extend his points lead to 22 over
team-mate Mika Kallio (Marc VDS Racing Team,
Kalex). The pair have dominated this year’s Moto2
World Championship with Rabat winning seven races
so far and Kallio taking three.

Although the Spaniard and Finn are well ahead in
the points chase, Maverick Vinales (Pons HP 40,
Kalex) is still within striking distance. Vinales
is by far the most impressive rookie of 2015,
having scored a win at the Grand Prix of the
Americas and a further four podium places.

Dominique Aegerter (Technomag carXpert, Suter) is
next up in fourth, his championship position
boosted considerably by his first Grand Prix
victory, achieved at July’s German Grand Prix.

Eighth-placed Anthony West (QMMF Racing Team,
Speed Up) has certainly had a lot of track time
since Misano. Last weekend the Australian
contested the legendary Le Mans 24 hour race, winning the Superstock class.

The battle for the 2014 Moto3 World Championship
is coming to the boil nicely, with Honda riders
winning the last four races. At Misano Alex Rins
(Estrella Galicia 0,0 Honda NSF250RW) won a
thrilling last-lap duel with team-mate Alex
Marquez (Estrella Galicia 0,0 Honda NSF250RW) to
move the pair closer to series leader Jack Miller
(KTM), who hasn’t won a race since July’s German GP.

Rins’ first victories of the year at Misano and
Silverstone have also closed the gap between him
and Marquez, who holds second overall, just nine
points behind Miller. Rins and Marquez have high
hopes for this weekend, having tested at Aragón three times this year.

Other Honda Moto3 riders have also proved the
ever-improving performance of their machines with
recent wins in the class, with Alexis Masbou
(Ongetta-Rivacold Honda NSF250RW) winning his
first GP at Brno and Efren Vazquez (SaxoPrint-RTG
Honda NSF250RW) taking his first GP success at Indy.

MotorLand Aragón joined the MotoGP World
Championship in 2010 and is one of four circuits
in bike-mad Spain to host rounds of the series,
along with Jerez, Catalunya and Valencia. The
circuit twists and turns over undulating
countryside and features the steepest gradients
in MotoGP, which offers an extra challenge for
riders and engineers. Aragón also features one of
the longest straights of the season which places
extra emphasis on horsepower. Repsol Honda riders
have won the last three MotoGP races at the
track, with Marquez taking victory last year,
Pedrosa in 2012 and Stoner in 2011.

After Aragón the MotoGP circus heads east for a
quick-fire run of three races over three
weekends, commencing with the Japanese Grand Prix
on 12 October. MotoGP returns to Europe for its
season finale at Valencia on 9 November.


Honda MotoGP rider quotes

Marc Marquez, Repsol Honda, says: “After a
disappointing weekend in Italy it will be nice to
return home to race in front of our home fans in
Aragón this weekend and also my fan club will be
coming! This is my favourite track of the year
and we’ve had good results here in the past three
years so I hope to continue this way. It has
technical first and final sections, and you need
to be strong in cornering, but we work hard from
Friday to be back on top on Sunday!”

Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda, says: “Last year
obviously wasn’t the best for me, but apart from
that I’ve always done well in Aragón and I’m
looking forward to racing in front of our home
crowd again, the support is always great and
gives you motivation! Obviously Marc has a huge
lead in the championship but there is only a
single point between me and Valentino, so my
priority is to win races and open that margin to take second in the standings.”

Alvaro Bautista, Team GO&FUN Honda Gresini, says:
“Aragon is a very special track, being
characterized by fast corners mixed with some
tight ones and also a very long straight. It’s
another circuit where last year we were
competitive, even though the references of 2013
at this time have little value. At the moment we
are struggling and we have a lot of problems; I
hope that the atmosphere of my home race can help
us to find a solution, because at the moment it’s
really difficult to get some good lap times, even
if we push at the maximum. I’m very motivated and
I really want to get back to work together with
the team, looking for a solution in order to find
myself more comfortable on the bike. The support
of my family and of the many friends who will be
on the track this weekend will be also helpful.”

Stefan Bradl, LCR Honda MotoGP, says: “I am
looking forward to this weekend, because the
Aragón circuit suits the Honda, and I must bounce
back after my failure in Misano. Aragón is
another track which I like pretty much and last
year I enjoyed a great battle with Bautista and
Rossi to finish the race in fifth place. It would
be nice to repeat that weekend.”

Scott Redding, Team GO&FUN Honda Gresini, says:
“Aragon is quite a nice track and even though it
will be again a new circuit for me on a MotoGP
bike, I think that it could be good for our
technical package. At Misano we faced a difficult
weekend and we struggled to be fast, so now we
are determined to be back at the level of
competitiveness we put on display in the previous
races. We will work hard to get back in front of
the other Open class Honda and, if possible, we
will also try to fight with some factory bikes.”

Hiroshi Aoyama, Drive 7 Aspar Honda, says: “I am
excited about racing at Aragón this weekend.
There are only five races left this season and I
want a good result from each of them – especially
MotorLand because it comes directly before my
home Grand Prix in Japan so I want to go there in
good form. Aragón is also an important race for
the team because it is one of their home races.
MotorLand is a cool circuit, I guess the long
straight will penalise us in respect to some of
our rivals but the rest of the track should suit
our bike. Misano didn't go as well as we hoped
but we are making decent progress at the moment
and hopefully we can continue to do so this weekend.”

Karel Abraham, Cardion AB Motoracing, says:
“Winning the Open class at Misano was a great
boost for everyone in the team, who have all
worked so hard this year. Step by step we are
making things better and we go to Aragon with
increased confidence and looking forward to
continuing our fights with the other Open bikes.”

Nicky Hayden, Drive 7 Aspar Honda, says: “I am
really happy to finally return to action this
weekend. Racing motorcycles is not only my job
but my passion and it hasn’t been easy for me to
miss so many races. I just focused on getting
back as quickly as possible but riding a MotoGP
is not something you can test your fitness for
until you try it. I have been riding quite a bit
of dirt-track lately but I can't say for sure how
strong I am, so I’m looking forward to getting on
the bike and seeing the results of the operation.
At the moment I don’t want to set any objectives
other than to get back out there and see how I
feel. I am looking forward to seeing the team
again and I can't wait to get back to the serious
work on Friday. My arm and wrist feel quite
strong and the movement has improved. I didn't
want to come back until I knew I had done
everything I could to recover and I am happy with
the result. I managed to get on the podium the
first year we raced at Motorland, I quite like
the circuit and it has some fun corners.”


Moto2 rider quotes

Tito Rabat, Marc VDS Racing Team, says: “It’s a
little different racing in Spain, because you can
feel the support of the home crowd, but that
won’t alter my approach to this weekend’s race in
Aragón. It’s still very close between Mika and me
in the championship, so I go to Aragón with the
same aim as always; to work hard with my crew,
focus on my job, put in 100 per cent and, on
Sunday, try and fight for the race win.”

Mika Kallio, Marc VDS Racing Team, says: “Now
it’s time to think about the championship, as the
end of the season is approaching and we have just
five races left in which to decide things. It’s
still close in the standings, but the last three
races didn’t go our way; my race pace was good,
but Tito just seemed to have more rear grip at
the end of the race, which he used to his
advantage. Maybe we need to modify our strategy
for the remaining races and think about how we
can save the tyres for the final laps because,
now, I need to keep Tito behind me. He’s the main
target because, unless we hit a problem, the
others are maybe too far behind to challenge for
the title. It looks like it’s going to be down to
me or him now and I hope we can regain the upper hand this weekend in Aragón.”

Maverick Vinales, Pons HP 40, says: “Racing at
home is always a great feeling and we are lucky
to have four races at home, with our home fans
offering us extra support and motivation every
time. Although we did a useful test at Aragón in
May, this will still be very much like a new
track for me and my Moto2 bike. We finished on
the podium in our last race in Spain, at
Catalunya, so me and the team will be working
hard like always to repeat that performance.”


Honda Moto3 rider quotes

Alex Rins, Estrella Galicia 0,0, says: “I always
feel optimistic and motivated when it comes to
racing at a home track. The pressure will be
bigger than ever because we go to Aragón after
winning the last two races, so all my fans will
be encouraging me to win again, but it will not
be easy. Three weeks ago we did some tests at
Aragón and we got a good set-up for the bike, and
now we will see how the weekend goes.”

Alex Marquez, Estrella Galicia 0,0, says: “At
this home race we need our fans to come and cheer
us more than ever and to help us achieve even
greater results. I think this could be a very
good weekend for us because this year we have had
three private tests at Aragón which should
certainly help us. I will treat the race like any
another and try to be as consistent as I have
been in the test. We had a great race at Misano
and I hope that we are even stronger this weekend.”

Efren Vazquez, SaxoPrint-RTG, says: “Another home
race and I’m really looking forward to this GP. I
want to push hard before the racing moved outside
of Europe. We are now in good place in this
championship, but with every race the racing gets
closer, so we will need to fight harder in the last five races!”

Source: Honda Pro Image

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