Pol Espargaró (Repsol Honda) in Losail – on the third day of the test he was already faster than Marquez substitute Stefan Bradl, who had previously practised countless miles with the Honda RC213V. An absolute top performance and after that he was also better than the German in the race.

In search of supposed performance problems from Honda

We looked around Le Mans all Friday looking for alleged problems with Honda, but we found absolutely nothing. We didn’t find anything in Jerez de la Frontera either, on the contrary. There the brave Takaaki missed the podium by a ridiculous 0.6 seconds and in the end was completely devastated by this narrow “defeat”. The fast Japanese was in tears after he had scraped past the podium by a hair’s breadth, as he had done several times in the previous year. Anyone who had a problem was understandably Pol Espargaró in the first rounds. When the Catalan decided to switch from KTM to the Repsol Honda factory team, he could not have suspected that he would later be disadvantaged by bad planning.

Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha) at the press conference in Le Mans – many observers believe that the only problem with Honda is currently with some drivers, but certainly not with the material. Perhaps they are simply missing a man like Johann Zarco or the young Frenchman.

The Dorna calendar and the bad planning of the test were Pol’s only problem
When Dorna published their first version of the MotoGP calendar at the beginning of November, we rubbed our eyes in amazement, like many. As if there was no pandemic, Argentina and the USA were already planned shortly after the start of the season. A bad joke, we immediately wrote on our site, as what we think was the only portal back then. Just like the test plan with Sepang, absolute madness due to the travel restrictions. For Petrux, Pol and the rookies, this resulted in a veritable disaster. Instead of the usual 12 days, they only came for a third and that in Losail under completely unique conditions. Back in Europe, a very difficult time began for all of them, because before that they had not ridden a single mile on “normal” tracks with their new bikes. The performance of Pol Espargaró can be assessed all the more, especially in FP2 at Le Mans, when he set the fourth-fastest time and was the fastest Honda.

Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda Idemitsu) at the Le Mans press conference – the Japanese was by far the best Honda driver in Jerez and embarrassed the Repsol works team and Marc Marquez to the bone.

The strong FP2 in Le Mans impressively proves the performance of the Honda
Especially impressive is Pol Espargaró, who this time was the best Honda even in the dry. With Marc Marquez and Takaaki Nakagami, alongside Yamaha and Ducati, Honda is currently doing very well. As with the Japanese at the Spanish Grand Prix, there were no apparent problems at all. A good example of the nonsense often spread in the media to distract attention from the problems of individual drivers. With a non-functioning RC213V, the performances of “Taka-San” in Jerez and his Catalan brand colleagues in Le Mans would have been impossible. So much at this point about the fairy tale of the uncompetitive Honda, issue 2 opened by Bradl after the first chapter last year!

Johann Zarco (Pramac Ducati) was passed over by Repsol Honda when he was on the market after his voluntary departure from KTM – for this they grabbed Alex Marquez, and he stumbles far too often, like last year, although relegated to the B-Team this season. The man from Cannes, on the other hand, has already proven to be an absolute stroke of luck for Ducati several times and again on Friday he was the best Ducati rider.

The audacity of false claims
As we heard, Marc Marquez is said to have publicly regretted that developments at Honda would have lagged without a top driver. I beg your pardon? To portray his own brother, Nakagami and teammate Pol Espargaró as second class, was that really meant seriously? To divert attention from one’s own weaknesses with false claims would be a whole new side, which we do not yet know about the 6-time MotoGP champion. Should he really fail on his comeback, will he make his retirement claim come true? Only he knows the answer himself, but it is best to simply concentrate on his own performance for the time being. After his announcement last summer “I’ll be back stronger than ever“, action is now required. With places 7 and 9, his fans will certainly not be able to console themselves for much longer.

Well behind Takaaki Nakagami back in Jerez de la Frontera – the Honda pack with Pol, Bradl, in between “La Bestia” and Marc Marquez. Action is now required from the number 93, otherwise it should continue to pause. At least that’s how many MotoGP fans see it now.

Championship stand in all classes before the 5th round at Le Mans

Le Mans Grand Prix schedule

Unless otherwise mentioned, applies to all images (© MotoGP).