Five important days in Misano for the Repsol Honda Team
A race weekend and a two-day test in Misano presents Pol Espargaro and Stefan Bradl with five days of track activity to fine tune the Honda RC213V.
The work continues inside the Repsol Honda Team box as the World Championship rolls into San Marino for Round 14. The Gran Premio di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini was host to a stunning one-two finish for the Repsol Honda Team in 2021, Marc Marquez winning just ahead of Pol Espargaro – who achieved his best MotoGP finish to date. This year’s objective is simple: make progress. Both Espargaro and Bradl will be looking to make the most of the track time to do just that.
Espargaro arrives at the San Marino GP after a tough Austrian weekend but with his trademark determination and never give up attitude. In 2021, the races on the Italian coast were a turning point in the season and Espargaro was able to end the year consistently challenging towards the front of the grid. He and the Repsol Honda Team will be looking to find this boost in performance again and continue the #44’s run of five top-ten finishes in Misano, including two podiums.
Familiar with the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli not just from testing, but also from frequent wildcards over the last few years, Stefan Bradl is again hunting improvements. Recent rounds have seen the German close the gap to the regulars on the MotoGP grid, frequently gaining seconds of time between each session. Bradl is hoping his experience at the Italian circuit will help him to make another step and fight further ahead this weekend.
Pol Espargaro
“Hopefully Misano can give us a boost after a hard weekend in Austria. I am fully focused and committed to continuing to give everything to the Repsol Honda Team and we are all working together to find solutions. The two-day test will be very useful and important for this, we have to work well over the whole event because we then head to a very intense period with the flyways. We stay focused, we stay motivated and we keep on pushing.”
Stefan Bradl
“Misano is a track that I know well from racing here in a the past and also my testing work with HRC. The results have not shown our potential recently and we have to keep working. My speed is coming much better with each race and there are just a few final small points to work out. We have the weekend to be a racer and then it will be back to test rider mode afterwards, let’s see what the full plan is.”
