Suppo nails Honda: “What a mistake not to listen to Pedrosa and Crutchlow”

The mistake of relying exclusively on the talent of Marc Marquez

Year zero. There could be no other definition for the team Honda HRCwhich in 2024 will appear at the starting line of the MotoGP having come back from a two-year period without victories – Honda's only success in 2022-2023 in MotoGP came in Texas in 2023 thanks to Alex Rins, with the LCR team in the last season – and without Marc Marquez, who left the official team of the house of the golden wing a year before the natural expiration of the contract in order to be able to play his cards riding the Ducati customers of the Gresini team.

Honda will field Joan Mir and Luca Marini. The two will be able to take advantage of the new regulation relating to concessions and therefore they will be alongside test driver Stefan Bradl already in the shakedown scheduled in Malaysia from 1 to 3 February before the three days of winter testing in which all the riders expected to start in the premier class in 2024 will be on track.

Second Livio SuppoHonda HRC team manager in MotoGP who scored with Casey Stoner in 2011 and four times with Marc Marquez from 2013 to 2017, the Japanese manufacturer made a mistake in not listening to Dani Pedrosa and Cal Crutchlow: “In interviews, Cal Crutchlow certainly didn't have anything to say about the bike – explained Suppo in an interview with the newspaper crash.net – and then even Pedrosa, not in public, but in technical meetings, began to warn the engineers that the Honda was becoming increasingly difficult to ride. Marc Marquez's talent was able to overcome all these difficulties and at that moment Honda made the mistake of not listening to Crutchlow and Pedrosa.”

“The results of the other Honda riders were of no interest, the concentration was entirely on Marquez's repeated successes – added Suppo – when they realized the bad turn this situation had taken in conjunction with Marc's injury in 2020 it was too late. I was surprised that Honda didn't find a compromise to retain Pedrosa as a test rider. Dani's sensitivity is proverbial and KTM's results are testimony to this. It's no coincidence that as soon as they retired both Dani and Cal were signed by competing companies.”