New Bike Specifications

HRC, Honda’s factory racing team, has announced that Dani Pedrosa and Marc Marquez will be riding for the Repsol Honda team for the 2013 and 2014 seasons.

The announcement has laid to rest all speculations that Valentino Rossi might be returning to the Repsol Honda team next year.

Speaking on the ocassion, Shuhei Nakamoto HRC team principal, stated, “We are very pleased to renew our contract with Dani and welcome Marc Marquez to the Repsol Honda Team. Dani is enjoying a very strong season and currently fighting with Casey and Lorenzo for the Championship, we are very pleased with his performance. Marc has already proved how fast he is in 125cc and Moto2, and we believe that, giving him the right time to adapt to the new class, he will also be able to show his talent in MotoGP in the future.”

Official Press Release:

Honda Racing Corporation (HRC) is pleased to officially announce Dani Pedrosa and Marc Marquez as the two factory Honda riders for 2013 and 2014.

Dani Pedrosa, who currently lies 2nd in the World Championship as the season reaches the halfway point, will extend his contract with Honda, whom he has raced with his debut in the World Championship in 2001. Dani is a three time World Champion (2003 in 125cc, 2004 and 2005 in 250cc) and made his debut in MotoGP in 2006, claiming the Rookie of the Year title and fifth position in the Championship. He has been runner up twice and has also finished third in the premier class on two occasions. After celebrating his maiden win of the 2012 season last weekend in Germany, Dani has shown he is certainly one of the contenders for the title in the premier class this year.

Marc Marquez, born on 17th of February 1993, will make his debut in MotoGP with the Honda factory team at just 20 years old. Already recognised as one of the biggest young talents in the World Championship, Marc has signed for two years with HRC. He was 125cc World Champion in 2010, runner up on his debut year in Moto2 and is currently leading the Moto2 World Championship by 43 points.

Honda has announced its intention to participate as a works team in the motorcycle class of the Dakar Rally to be held in January 2013 in South America, travelling north to south through Peru, Chile and Argentina.

Honda competed nine times in the motorcycle class in the forerunner of the present Dakar Rally, the Paris-Dakar Rally, from 1981 through to 1989, and was a winner five times during that period. It has been 23 years since it last participated in the Rally.

The Honda team, to be called Team HRC, will include Portuguese rider Helder Rodrigues, who took third place in the 2012 Dakar Rally, Brazilian Felipe Zanol, who brings a wealth of experience in motocross and enduro race events, as well as Sam Sunderland (United Kingdom) and Javier Pizzolito (Argentina). They will ride a prototype machine developed and produced by the Motorcycle R&D Center at Honda R&D. The prototype machine is based on the CRF450X, the popular worldwide enduro racing model that combines ease of handling with superior competitive strength. Kit parts designed for use on the standard CRF450X model have also been developed and will be supplied to a limited number of teams. Tetsuo Suzuki, Senior Managing Officer and Director, Chief Operating Officer, Motorcycle R&D Centre, Honda R&D Co., Ltd. commented: “The Dakar requires competitors to cover several hundred kilometers per day for more than two weeks. It needs a totally different type of vehicle from events such as motocross, trials and road races. Honda has put a great deal of effort into designing and building a powerful and winning machine. We are aiming for the championship from this first year.”

via newspress.co.uk

Honda has announced its intention to participate as a works team in the motorcycle class of the Dakar Rally to be held in January 2013 in South America, travelling north to south through Peru, Chile and Argentina.

Honda competed nine times in the motorcycle class in the forerunner of the present Dakar Rally, the Paris-Dakar Rally, from 1981 through to 1989, and was a winner five times during that period. It has been 23 years since it last participated in the Rally.

The Honda team, to be called Team HRC, will include Portuguese rider Helder Rodrigues, who took third place in the 2012 Dakar Rally, Brazilian Felipe Zanol, who brings a wealth of experience in motocross and enduro race events, as well as Sam Sunderland (United Kingdom) and Javier Pizzolito (Argentina). They will ride a prototype machine developed and produced by the Motorcycle R&D Center at Honda R&D. The prototype machine is based on the CRF450X, the popular worldwide enduro racing model that combines ease of handling with superior competitive strength. Kit parts designed for use on the standard CRF450X model have also been developed and will be supplied to a limited number of teams. Tetsuo Suzuki, Senior Managing Officer and Director, Chief Operating Officer, Motorcycle R&D Centre, Honda R&D Co., Ltd. commented: “The Dakar requires competitors to cover several hundred kilometers per day for more than two weeks. It needs a totally different type of vehicle from events such as motocross, trials and road races. Honda has put a great deal of effort into designing and building a powerful and winning machine. We are aiming for the championship from this first year.”

via newspress.co.uk

Current world champion, Casey Stoner overcame an incident-filled race at the Assen circuit to power home the victory for Repsol Honda team.

The race started with high drama as Álvaro Bautista took out championship leader Jorge Lorenzo at the very first corner, The factory Yamaha rider is clearly upset about the incident, which has been put under investigation by race direction.

 

Majority of the race was led by the Repsol Honda Team pair of Stoner and Pedrosa who were swapping places with Ben Spies in third. As the Honda pair started to pull out Stefan Bradl crashed out – following him were the likes of Yonny Hernandez and Nicky Hayden who crashed out in the last corner – but managed to wrestle his bike back on track. Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Andrea Dovizioso went past Spies into third.

Stoner made his move on Pedrosa as the Spaniard looked to be struggling and lead the race, with six laps remaining both Hondas looked to be slowing, yet had pulled out a seven second lead over there nearest rivals. In the end it was Stoner who took the chequered flag to go equal on points at the top of the championship, Pedrosa finished second and Dovizioso took yet another podium this year.

Current world champion, Casey Stoner overcame an incident-filled race at the Assen circuit to power home the victory for Repsol Honda team.

The race started with high drama as Álvaro Bautista took out championship leader Jorge Lorenzo at the very first corner, The factory Yamaha rider is clearly upset about the incident, which has been put under investigation by race direction.

Majority of the race was led by the Repsol Honda Team pair of Stoner and Pedrosa who were swapping places with Ben Spies in third. As the Honda pair started to pull out Stefan Bradl crashed out – following him were the likes of Yonny Hernandez and Nicky Hayden who crashed out in the last corner – but managed to wrestle his bike back on track. Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Andrea Dovizioso went past Spies into third.

Stoner made his move on Pedrosa as the Spaniard looked to be struggling and lead the race, with six laps remaining both Hondas looked to be slowing, yet had pulled out a seven second lead over there nearest rivals. In the end it was Stoner who took the chequered flag to go equal on points at the top of the championship, Pedrosa finished second and Dovizioso took yet another podium this year.