Alvaro Bautista (HRC Honda) photographed by us on February 29, 2020 in Phillip Island in the Superpole – with only the fifth-best time almost copied by all supposed experts, we had already warned before the race to underestimate it. While pole setter Tom Sykes (BMW), who had been highly regarded by many before, was passed through to P9 in the first race, the Spanish devil drove the brand-new CBR-1000RR-R straight away to a sensationally strong 6th place.

HRC Honda before the first race of 2021

When Alvaro Bautista announced early in the summer of 2019 that he was not going to extend Ducati for a season or two, many observers puzzled what his future would look like. The veil of this secret was not lifted until much later. With the announcement that HRC Honda and its Spanish MotoGP squad would take care of the factories themselves in the future, this was a milestone in WorldSBK. Especially with the brand new CBR-1000RR-R, which was announced for the coming season, Honda surprised all observers. With the little Spaniard from Talavera de la Reina and the Englishman Leon Haslam, those responsible had secured two of the most experienced pilots who were available. What this team achieved right away in the first Corona year was simply sensationally strong.

WSBK 2009with Max Biaggi (Aprilia) ahead of Leon Haslam (Honda), Troy Corser (BMW) and Michel Fabrizio (Ducati) – the Englishman was only the second-best Honda driver at the time and was sixth in the World Championship. But if you consider that his teammate’s name was Jonathan Rea and was only one rank better, you might understand the choice of HRC Honda a little better. In the last few years there have even been unsuspecting journalists who have denied the fast Englishman the right to join a factory team. The son of “Rocket Ron” punished them again in 2020 with his achievements.

Despite the most adverse circumstances – HRC Honda became the sensation of the 2020 season
The Covid-19 outbreak already affected the team performance in Japan, but the Japanese-Spanish team was not impressed in any way. They were very serious and early on in the winter tests, and Leon Haslam was often among the fastest. Alvaro Bautista, on the other hand, looked as if he had a lot more trouble after switching from the V4 Ducati to the Japanese inline four-cylinder. Apparently some journalists were fooled by this, who portrayed him as a loser even before the start of the season. But the clever fox had not yet revealed his cards and despite the initially modest test and training times, he was fully there when the traffic lights went out in Phillip Island for the first time. From 15th place on the grid he started a furious race to catch up and finished sixth in the first race, right behind his strong team-mate Haslam.

Photographed in the WorldSBK Paddock in June 2018 from the roof of the main building in Brno – the giant team trucks with the two from Honda Racing in the front when Ten Kate was still taking care of the Japanese outing. Two years later, almost everything changed at the world’s largest manufacturer.

The corona pandemic couldn’t stop them either – the next successes came early
Due to the stationing of HRC in Spain, there was only a limited exchange with incoming engineers from Japan and much had to be achieved via tedious detours, which concerned the further development. While BMW owed a lot in its second season despite two outstandingly strong drivers, Honda impressed enormously against all odds. Except for Portimão, they were usually much better than the blue-whites and, in contrast to them, Bautista even made it onto the podium in the 4th round of the World Cup. At the end of the season, he and his English team-mate were in the top ten straight away, clearly ahead of BMW. Despite the numerous falls of the aggressive Spaniard, they had more than astonished both experts and laypeople with their achievements.

Leon Haslam (HRC Honda) is a real gem for the Japanese-Spanish HRC troop – one of the undisputed best developers among the drivers of WorldSBK and also often very strong on the track. Without him, Jonathan Rea would hardly have won the Suzuka 8 Hours for Kawasaki in 2019. Anyone who reads Bautista’s statements carefully and listens carefully in interviews can understand that Honda would never have been able to compete with their CBR-1000RR-R Fireblade so quickly without his teammates.

What can we expect from HRC Honda at the start of the 2021 season?

With the season starting in Aragon, anything but a podium place for Alvaro Bautista would basically be a step backwards. Since Honda, together with Kawasaki and Ducati, tested frequently and early on, together with their two works teams and Chaz Davies, they are among the podium candidates for at least the season opener. However, whether BMW will be able to keep up after the rather modest test times in Motorland Aragon is rather questionable for the first race of the season. At least we wouldn’t be surprised if even HRC Honda joined the defending champions’ toughest challengers over the course of the season. It is also quite possible that they can replace Pata Yamaha as the third force behind Kawasaki and Ducati.

Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Ducati) photographed by us after his fall in the second race in the Parc fermé of Misano in June 2019. Unless the Spaniard falls too often in the 2021 season, he can be trusted to do big things.

>Aragon preview: see separate report on this page.

Unless otherwise stated, this applies to all images (© WorldSBK).