Ken Kawauchi joined Honda’s racing department at the start of 2023 when he arrived from Suzuki, which only a few months earlier ended its MotoGP project. Despite the expectations generated, especially considering the success of Suzuki which had won the world championship in 2020 with Joan Mir, the Japanese technician has not managed to change the fortunes of a company that continues not to make progress and whose gap from Ducati does not seem to be reducing .
During the last year and a half, Kawauchi has acted as a liaison between the two Honda garages, the official one and the satellite one managed by Lucio Cecchinello. This function is the same one that it has performed in recent Grands Prix. The seat left vacant by Kawauchi was filled by Mikihiko Kawase, who was promoted internally from Honda’s racing department (HRC), where he joined in 2012.
Ken Kawauchi, technical director of Honda in MotoGP
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
The presence of the former Suzuki inside the garage of Joan Mir and Luca Marini probably ensured that no one perceived his change of role. However, this Thursday at Motegi, Honda confirmed this to Motorsport.com: “Ken Kawauchi now focuses on working with the HRC test team, in a technical capacity where he brings experience and information acquired in his racing career. Given that the relevance of the test team is increasingly greater and that it is expected to expand to three drivers in 2025, it is crucial to have a person with experience in every part of development.”
Honda continues to find itself in a spiral of change that will certainly not end. A year ago, precisely in Motegi, the exit from the MotoGP project of Shinichi Kokubu, who until then held the role of general technical director, emerged with the entry of Shin Sato. Months later it was the turn of Testushiro Kuwata, general manager, who left the position now occupied by Taichi Honda.
It is learned that all these improvements aim to improve the performance of the RC213V, whose best result this year is the ninth position that Johann Zarco (LCR) achieved last Sunday in Indonesia. Currently, Honda occupies last place in the manufacturers’ standings, with just 51 points, 41 less than Yamaha, despite the other Japanese brand having half the bikes on the track. Honda’s last podium dates back to a year ago, when Marc Marquez took third position in Motegi.
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