All posts tagged honda hrc
Honda's Nakamoto admits they are using something new
The rumor that Honda was using something new began when Sportmediaset published an article a week ago mentioning that the Japanese manufacturer we’re using something very similar to their Dual Clutch Technology on their 2011 MotoGP bikes.
Heaven forbid, the rumor (which we believe started when one of the Italian Honda riders, who are very close to the Italian media, probably unwittingly revealed the novelty) ran like bushfire and caused a ripple in forums and on Twitter on whether Honda would use something on the limit of being perceived as technically illegal.
The situation even warranted a small press conference this morning at Sepang, by HRC vice-president Shuei Nakamoto to put the story to rest, having to admit to their competitors that they are are indeed using some some new transmission parts.
“Obviously, HRC does not use anything prohibited but it is true that we have something new on the transmission at the moment, it lets you change faster. This is not a DCT, however, not that I can tell you how it works… because I do not know,” joked Nakamoto.
Source | bikesportnews.com
Much ado about nothing, Honda confirms all three factory riders and Repsol continues as sponsor
Andrea Dovizioso’s situation in Honda HRC was a paradox. He had a signed contract with an option for the 2011 season, if he finished 5th or better, then Honda even before knowing the standings went and signed both Dani Pedrosa (we knew he wasn’t going to be leaving) and Casey Stoner, putting the team in a fine contractual mess.
The mess was, could the team support three factory riders and if Repsol could and would sponsor a three rider effort, but Honda has set everything to rest by announcing today that they’ll be keeping all three riders (Dovizioso will not be shuffled off to Gresini) and that Respol has not only upped their backing money, but also agreed to a further two year sponsorship extension with the team.
Shades of 1995 …
Dani Pedrosa to return for Estoril GP
After withdrawing from the Australian GP two weeks ago, Dani Pedrosa will attempt to ride this weekend at Estoril.
According to the Spaniard, the two Friday practice sessions will be also be fitness test, to see if he’s recovered enough strength after fracturing his left collarbone at Motegi. His doctors at the Institut Universitari Dexeus in Barcelona have removed the stitches following his surgery October 2nd and have given him the green light to return to action.
“We get back on track this weekend at Estoril and, in principle, the situation should be much better than it was for me in Australia,” said the Honda rider. The Estoril circuit is not as demanding as Phillip Island and this should help me to feel more comfortable on the bike. Plus I’ve had some more time to recover which should help too. This kind of injury needs time to heal and with two more weeks having passed I’m really looking forward to seeing how much the shoulder has improved. I went to visit the doctor last Tuesday to have the stitches removed, and the scar is fine. I’ve been doing some more rehabilitation on the muscles and I have some more strength, but I will not be able to fully judge how much difference there is until I get on the bike on Friday morning. Also, I think it can be positive for me that there will be two practice sessions on Friday again, as we had in Aragon. In terms of the track layout, Estoril has some hard braking areas and it’s bumpy, but the fact that it has more right hand corners than left can be good for us. So, I’m looking forward to getting there with my team and seeing how I feel.”
How Casey Stoner's Honda could look like
Honda HRC has yet to announce whether they’ve unbroiled the contract mess they’ve made with Andrea Dovizioso when Livio Suppo hired Casey Stoner for the 2011-2012 seasons.
Andrea Dovizioso, currently fourth in the MotoGP championship standings seems pretty confident that he’ll be with the factory team and this could mean that Casey Stoner, if you believe the latest rumours, will be fielded in a one-man squad run by his former Ducati mentor Suppo, which without a doubt would appease not only Repsol, but also the power packin’ Alberto Puig.
The idea of Casey Stoner in a one man team has tickled the imagination of designer Luca ‘Indivisual’ Vizzini who rendered this RC212V in HRC original livery colours with Stoner’s racing number, which is very, very cool looking.
Source | racergp.com and lucaindivisualvizzini
Dani Pedrosa heading to Phillip Island
Dani Pedrosa has confirmed that he’ll be ready to race in this weekend’s Australian GP after breaking his collarbone during free practice at Motegi ten days ago when a throttle glitch on his Honda made him crash.
Missing two GP’s, the Honda Reposl rider lost his title chance of contesting the title championship with Jorge Lorenzo, will work on keeping second place in the standings.
“It was hard to take the decision to not go to Malaysia, but after another week I feel it was the right thing to do because during these days my condition has improved quite a lot,” said Pedrosa. “So I’m looking forward to getting to Australia and finding out how I feel on the bike. I will arrive at Phillip Island on Wednesday to have some time to recover from the flight and rest a little bit.
Dani Pedrosa heading to Malaysia - UPDATED
Last Friday during free practice at Motegi Dani Pedrosa crashed and fractured his left collarbone, flew back to Spain and underwent surgery on Saturday to plate his damaged collarbone. On Monday left the hospital and yesterday underwent a check-up where the Spanish rider stated “there is a very small possibility of going to Malaysia, but the realistic target is Australia.”
This very small possibility has now turned into reality, because according to Alex Crivillé, former two times World Champion and now Spanish TV commentator revealed this morning, that Pedrosa has boarded a flight to Kuala Lumpur and will try to ride in Saturday’s free practice at the Sepang circuit.
Pedrosa’s (or infact any other rider) desire to try to ride should really no longer surprise anyone, considering the number of rounds in his career he’s ridden injured and even if title hope effectively ended at Motegi.
UPDATED:
It looks like Alex Crivillè was looking for a little attention, because Honda with the following press release has officially denied that Pedrosa will be at Sepang this weekend.
Continue reading: Dani Pedrosa heading to Malaysia - UPDATED
Honda reveals that Pedrosa crash caused by throttle problem
If you managed to see Dani Pedrosa’s on board crash during free pratice at Motegi, you could almost feel that it wasn’t due to the usual cold tire syndrome that has affected so many riders this year, but something mechanical had happened to his Honda RC212Vwhen he braked into turn nine.
Honda infact in a press release has revealed that a problem was due to a faulty fly-by-wire throttle that instead of shutting off the gas as the Spaniard braked, remained open causing the crash that left Pedrosa with a three fragment fractured collarbone and and bruising to his left ankle when his leg remained trapped under the bike as it slid into the gravel trap.
Pedrosa is now heading home to Spain to undergo surgery at the famed Dexeus Institute in Barcelona which will effectively also put him out of the Sepang GP (October 10th) with Dr. Michele Macchiagodena, MotoGP’s Medical Director, expecting that Pedrosa could be back for Phillip Island that takes place October 17th.
Here’s what Pedrosa had to say about the crash that stopped his title challenge:
“Obviously this has been a really bad day for us. It was a strange crash in only my second full lap, in a slow section of the track. I tried to stop the bike as usual but I knew something was wrong and couldn’t avoid going down. After the crash I knew immediately that I was injured because it was very painful. I had a big impact in my left ankle and also my collarbone was broken as I hit the track - so obviously it feels very unlucky because recently we have had really good results. I’ve been very healthy through the pre-season and through the year and we had been working a lot to get to and stay at the maximum level. Another injury to contend with is really not what I needed - I don’t feel as though I deserve it. Anyway, once the doctors had checked everything here, we decided it was best to go back to Spain for the operation. I hope it goes as well as possible and t hat I can return to racing soon.”
Dani Pedrosa signs up for another 2 years with Honda
Dani Pedrosa has signed up for another two years with Honda HRC factory team, and obviously we were especting this because the Spanish rider is and has always been a Honda rider throughout his career and won three titles for the Japanese manufacturer and has barely turned up in this year’s MotoGP silly season.
Pedrosa who is having his best season in MotoGP with four wins so far, will be teaming up with Casey Stoner in 2011, but Honda has to still solve the big contract headache that goes by the name of Andrea Dovizioso.
There is still no news of where Dovizioso will end up, but the Italian insists that a clause in his contract gives him the right to a factory seat in 2011 if he finished fifth our better by mid season and he’s currently third and seems to have no intention of being demoted to a satellite Honda team (Gresini or Cecchinello) even if he gets a full spec factory bike and can probably take all his current crew members with him.
With Pedrosa’s signature on the dotted line, we can expect that Spanish petroleum giant Repsol will be renewing its title sponsorship with HRC, which expires at the end of this year.
Press release after the jump:
Continue reading: Dani Pedrosa signs up for another 2 years with Honda
MotoGP Silly Season: Andrea Dovizioso in Talks With Yamaha Tech3?
HRC Vice President Shuei Nakamoto may have said, after confirming that Casey Stoner will be riding for Honda next year, “Dani Pedrosa and Andrea Dovizioso who are performing very well and currently hold second and third positions in the 2010 World Championship” and “HRC hopes also to retain these two riders for next year - giving us what would be a truly formidable line-up,” but apparently Andrea Dovizioso has very little hope that he’s going to be retained as a factory rider next season unless some other rich sponsor shows up.
Repsol wants a Spanish rider and that means Dani Pedrosa and Livio Suppo wanted Casey Stoner and got him and that leaves the Italian rider, who isn’t considered as one of the aliens, but has been constant and has the approval of Honda engineers who believe that the Dovizioso is giving the right feedback on the development of the RC 212V, infact privateer LCR Honda is using Dovizioso’s development line instead of Pedrosa’s and Randy de Puniet was getting good results until his crash at Sachsenring.
While Honda doesn’t want to lose Dovizioso and has offered him a ride with Team Gresini (Fausto Gresini has however denied the negotiations) with full factory backing or if there’s the possibility that Lucio Cecchinello will be helped to form a two rider team that includes Dovizioso, however the Italian has another offer on the plate that comes from Herve Poncharal who has offered Dovizioso’s Ben Spies Yamaha Tech 3 ride next season.
Dovizioso will have to do some serious thinking about where he wants to go, since he’s always been a loyal Honda rider for almost all his racing career.
Source | motocaradisiac
It's Official - Casey Stoner Leaves Ducati!
It was the worst kept secret of the MotoGP paddock after Sportmediaset spilled the beans, but it’s now been officially confirmed by Ducati that Casey Stoner will be leaving the Italian team at the end of this season.
Stoner’s destination will be Honda, even if the Japanese manufacturer has yet to give the official confirmation, but we expect their press release at the end of the day and another from Ducati on Valentino Rossi.
Ducati Press Release:
The Valencia Grand Prix on November 7th 2010 will be the event that concludes four years of extraordinary collaboration between Ducati and Casey Stoner. An important relationship characterized by a strong reciprocal esteem and many victories, among which the first MotoGP World Title for both the Italian manufacturer and the Australian rider.
Continue reading: It's Official - Casey Stoner Leaves Ducati!
MotoGP Silly Season: Casey Stoner signs with Honda for 5 Million Euros
Don’t you just love silly season, especially this year? After Sportmediaset’s faux pas (they still haven’t retracted their original story) spilling the beans that Casey Stoner had signed with Honda HRC, now Swiss website Speedweek is reporting that the deal is officially done.
According to the article, Stoner penned the deal with the Honda factory team just before this weekend’s Silverstone GP and will be receiving five million euros from the Japanese manufacturer, who through Livio Suppo, never denied their intentions to steal the Aussie rider from Ducati.
So far Stoner has had a disappointing season with the new GP10 bike, crashing out of two of the four races with unexplainable front tire problems and his highest placement was fourth at the Italian GP after struggling for most of the race behind Marco Melandri and Randy de Puniet.
If this rumor is confirmed, we’re going to see some sparks flying in the HRC garage for the rest of this season with Dani Pedrosa and Andrea Dovizioso both vying to retain their position in the team, unless Suppo has already offered the stars and the moon to Jorge Lorenzo in order to make Honda’s dream team come true.
The next few races are going to be interesting, so keep an eye on those Repsol boys.
Dani Pedrosa Reviews his Five Different Honda's
Dani Pedrosa has been an official MotoGP Honda factory rider since 2006 and he’s rode the Honda RC211V 990cc and three evolutions of the 800cc RC212V, so far.
In this video Pedrosa talks about his bikes he has ridden, recalling his memories on each. Since the video is in Spanish, here’s a very rough recap of what Pedrosa says and after the jump you can also see a highlight video of the MotoGP race at Jerez.
2006: He enjoyed his debut year in 2006 and his Honda worked well and he didn’t have any problems, even if the bike was a little big for him.
2007: The first 800cc bike left him frustrated and that he had a lot of problems with tires that year, but he learned a lot from the experience and on the technical aspects of these motorcycles. When Pedrosa climbs on the bike he says that the bike is very “small.”
Continue reading: Dani Pedrosa Reviews his Five Different Honda's
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