While much has been made of the season Marc Marquez is having in MotoGP it’s easy to overlook the fact that Honda has won every single round this year. With Marquez’s only loss of the season thus far coming at the hand of his teammate Dani Pedrosa, it’s hard to remember when another brand of motorcycle won a MotoGP (okay, it was Valencia last year – in the season finale).
Honda puts that perfect record on display again this coming weekend on Italy’s Adriatic coast at Misano for the 13th round of the series – the San Marino Grand Prix. If Marquez wins again this weekend in Italy he will tie Mick Doohan (1997) for most wins in a season with 12. Doohan set the record on… yes, a Repsol Honda.
And Misano, like the rest of the tracks on the schedule it seems, is a good one for the 21-year-old Marquez: in the past four years he has claimed three wins. Last year he finished second in the MotoGP after earning pole position.
“It was nice to be back on the top step of the podium in Silverstone: the team did a great job the whole weekend,” Marquez said in a Honda release. “Now we head to Misano which is a smaller and slower track compared to others on the calendar. We will have to work hard from Friday to get the setup on the bike just right, to suit the demands on braking at this twisty track and let’s hope the weather is also nice.”
Pedrosa has also won at Misano, taking the MotoGP victory there in 2010. And he has not finished off the podium there since 2009. Pedrosa comes to Misano with his victory in the Czech Republic, seven more podium finishes and second overall in the championship.
“I’m looking forward to Misano this weekend,” Pedrosa said. “There is always a nice crowd over the three days and a good atmosphere with the Italian fans. Hopefully we’ll have good weather from the Friday and get things going in the right direction. It’s a short lap but intense with many overtaking points and it’s quite bumpy, so set up is key. Let’s hope for an exciting race.”
The Misano race is one of two home rounds (this track is just 20 minutes down the road from his home in Tavullia) for Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi, but if someone on a Yamaha is going to step up and beat the Hondas, it will likely be Jorge Lorenzo. Lorenzo is coming off a confidence-boosting battle with Marquez at Silverstone and he’s won the last three MotoGPs at Misano.
“I think we’re on the good path as we saw at Silverstone and, although we were not able to win there, we did a fantastic job,” Lorenzo said. “Perhaps we suffered more at Silverstone because the rear tire was different from what we used in the previous races. I thought Silverstone was the ideal scenario to get the first win but was unable to prevail, despite big expectations. Misano could definitely be the place to aim for the win, but I don’t want to obsess about it. I won’t do anything crazy, I’ll just try to do my best and show our best performance. If I can’t win, another podium would be nice. I think we’re at the best level we’ve been this year and we’re doing a fantastic job with the team. The bike works well and, to me, Misano is a really lovely track because of its quick lay-out and plenty of fast corners.”
Rossi also arrives at his home race on a high, having added another podium to his season at Silverstone.
“When the season arrives at the Misano Grand Prix, I’m always very happy,” Rossi said. “For me it is a really special GP. First because it’s only 10 kilometers from my house in Tavullia and here is my family, all my friends and my fans. Then because Misano is my track; I love this place and I like this circuit, because it has a lot of fast corners and there are many places where you can make overtakes and I always enjoy so much when I’m on this track. This race is very important for me, for many reasons and we have to do even more than we usually do. We will try to prepare the bike perfectly, from the first day. I want to stay in front and try to fight with Jorge and Marc. At Silverstone I went again on the podium and here I want to do the same thing. I’ll do my best. I hope the weather will be good, even during the first practice. It will be important to work in dry conditions to prepare the bike. I’m ready for the Misano Grand Prix.”
Andrea Dovizioso leads the Ducati team into Misano, fresh off an outstanding ride at Silverstone that saw him battle early with the top two before facing to an eventual fourth.
The Italian has never won at Misano and has never been on the podium, with his best finish a fourth in 2009, 2010 and 2012. He’s not a fan of the track on the Adriatic.
“Even though I won my first race there on big bikes, Misano is not one of my favorite circuits, but this Grand Prix is also our second ‘home race,’ so I’m sure the fans will be an extra help,” Dovizioso said. “It will be not easy to confirm our Silverstone performance, but we had the opportunity to do a good test at Misano before we went to the UK, so we are going there in an optimistic mood.”
Drive M7 Aspar Honda’s Nicky Hayden will miss Misano with his wrist injury with his place set to be taken again by Brit Leon Camier.
“I rode at Misano for three years in World Superbikes and it is quite a strange track,” Camier said. “It is demanding, with some hard braking, some tight and slow corners, and we are going to have to work very hard to adapt the set-up of the bike. We struggled to get on the pace at Silverstone, maybe because we went the wrong way with the set-up at the start of the weekend and never managed to recover. We have a very clear plan for Misano, we know which direction we need to go in for me to continue learning about this category and this bike. I’ll try to complete as many laps as I can and hopefully we can show our best on Sunday.”
