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Winter is coming to an end and it will be the Malaysian heat that welcomes the start of the new year for MotoGP. A season offering new scenarios, with many riders having changed team, but not Marc Marquez who will start with the difficult task of defending his title of number 1, achieved in 2016.
It is clear that the Spaniard is the man to beat and HRC team principal Livio Suppo is well aware of this: “he has won three of the last four world titles and is the current world champion - it's logical that he starts as favourite, but it's also true that we start over from scratch each year, with everyone having the same chance of winning” he states in today's Corriere dello Sport.
Yet the competition is tougher than ever, and the Italian manager is not underestimating anyone.
“Yamaha is very strong and has a great team with Rossi and Vinales- he comments - then there's Ducati that, with Jorge Lorenzo, should take another step forward, and Suzuki that, if it continues to grow as it did in 2016, is definitely another one to watch. Also because Andrea Iannone proved that he's a winning rider at the Austrian Grand Prix”.
These are the top riders, but 2016 showed us that many are capable of winning races. In this sense, Honda has two more strings to its bow: Miller and Crutchlow.
“This is the year in which Jack has to prove himself in the category. As for Cal, I think he's back to the level of performance he had back in Yamaha with Tech3” comments Suppo.
Then there is Rabat and Pedrosa who, for different reasons, did not live up to expectations.
“Tito struggled a lot in 2016, but also due to our electronics issues. He's a hard-worker and I expect significant improvement. As for Dani, he also 'suffered' with the new electronics at first but then he won at Misano. If he hadn't hurt himself, he'd could have won further races, I'm sure of it” .
Suppo is sure of something else too - that the RC213-V has grown significantly and that the problems experienced in early 2016 are now just a distant memory. He's not worried about the absence of the winglets either.
“The Honda fairings were created without wings, which were then added latter, so we won't have any problems - he assures - Luckily, we've resolved the problems with the ECU and single management software that penalised us to a certain extent during the first part of last season when people were saying that the only rider able to deal with our bike was Marc”.
Lastly, Livio touches on Moto3 and Honda's new recruit, Fenati.
“In terms of his experience and speed, I'd definitely include him among the favourites. I'm also certain that the 2016 experience has seen him mature and the fact that he'll be in team that is more easygoing will also help him" he concludes.
