After the demise of the Suzuki MotoGP team, both Alex Rins and Joan Mir began looking for a job next year. It is now official that Alex Rins will join the Honda LCR team on a two-year contract.
Rins signed a deal with LCR, that included the signature of Honda Racing Corporation, which has agreed to provide the latest factory machinery for Rins’ use.
Rins is 26 years old, and has extensive GP racing experience. He has 15 GP wins, including three in the MotoGP category. He also has 55 podiums, including 15 in MotoGP.
Rins is known for his bike development skills, and the quality of the feedback he gives to mechanics and engineers. Although Honda introduced a new MotoGP bike this year, it has struggled to find any sort of success with it, and development skills will be extremely important to Honda moving forward.
Although not officially announced at this point, it is expected that Joan Mir will join Marc Marquez at the factory Repsol Honda team next year. Marquez is recovering from his fourth surgery on his right arm, and expects to compete next year. Early reports on Marquez indicate his post-surgery recovery is going according to plan.
Ducati has perhaps been the best bike for years. They seem to have problems in choosing and paying riders at the right time. They should of took a swing at landing Fabio. Congrats to Rins and a good move imo if they land Mir.
Hard to say what’s up with Honda but they might be back at the top with new line up and a healthy Marc.
“Ducati has perhaps been the best bike for years.”
Then isn’t their campaign successful?
Suppose it could be, but they failed to get the right rider to get the prize that matters and only 1 constructors win.
Hopefully Honda does a new bike next year and fixes it. I don’t think anyone’s development skills can get the current bike to the front
Really? now, just how is that so, tell us. Or, are you just speculating out of thin air, not having any real information other than without MM93 its been a bad year for Honda. for reference, what development skills have you? or exactly what is wrong with their machine, exactly. throw the bike down, “it doesnt work”, kind of guy, is that what you mean.
Well Joe. Even though Q has had a lot of success with the Yamaha, people still say it’s slow because the other guys are struggling with it.
Honda’s new bike is getting worse results that its old bike. This will tend to make people believe that there is something wrong with the new bike. It wouldn’t be unlike Honda to make another new bike from something they may have learned from what Dave and others might call a mistake made on the current bike.
Or perhaps you could ask yourself your own series of questions and provide us with some interesting answers about why they shouldn’t make a new bike for next year.
“Honda’s new bike is getting worse results that its old bike.”
I suspect this is only true because Marquez got injured.
While I generally disregard Honda results. Results are all I look at. Since I don’t like Honda I have of late been noticing that Honda riders in general are doing pretty poorly.
I could easily be wrong. I don’t like Marquez either,so over time the only results that I register are Honda’s other riders.
I hold Dave’s opinion as evidence that my observations are not unique.
joe b, It’s plainly apparent. I don’t need development skills. I have eyes. They’re sitting 13th, 16th, 17th and 18th in the standings right now. Their 4 riders have a total of two top-5’s among them this season.
This is *Honda* we’re talking about.
The front-end feel is vague, they have to choose between side grip or straightline grip on the rear, they can’t get the bike stopped like they want to, and the engine is causing 1st and 2nd degree burns to the riders feet on the clutch-side. Says all of the Honda riders. Even Puig says the bike isn’t right. You can find all of that info in interviews throughout the season and probably a good number of written articles, so his comment isn’t out of “thin air.”
Can they
Can they develop the current bike into something it currently isn’t? I don’t know. If they haven’t found something during the summer break to make the bike more competitive for the second half of the season, I would think the most logical and promising step forward would be a new design. Or something closer to the old one if they gamble on Marc being 95% or better of his old self.
thanks for everyones comments, honest.
Honda went from a bike that only Marquez could ride to a bike that nobody could ride.
It had been rumored, but I’m still surprised to see Rins go to LCR.
This was rumored some time ago, happy to see some new blood in the Honda team. its Ducati’s year to loose, and if none of their riders steps up, while MM93 is out for repair, its a shame they seem to have finally found what it takes to win, they just need to put it together. If both Rins and Mir both move to Honda, it will be an interesting next year.
General opinion is that the Ducati is the best package and with the variety of riders who are able to put them up from on a given weekend I am inclined to agree. Unfortunately they’re losing to inconsistency instead of any shortcomings of the bike. Too many DNF’s , too many poor showings.
It’s interesting to look at the points standings (Wikipedia has a nice table) and see the variability in Each Ducati rider’s finishes and the consistency in Quartararo and Espargsro’s.
If the general option is that Ducati has the best package and lots of teams want to run them. Then Ducati doesn’t really need to win the the championship. Their ad campaign at MotoGP is obviously a success. Yahama may well win the championship. But the general opinion is that the Yamaha is slow.
If you have a budget that isn’t very limited and you are in the market for a track day bike, which bike are you likely to buy based on what you see at MotoGP? Are you going to buy a Yamaha because you think you’re Q? Or are you going to buy a Ducati because they seem to bring out the best in the most riders?
Or maybe you buy a Triumph because you want something around that displacement and that’s all you get at Moto2. But a GSX-R750 is generally the go to in that displacement. Suzuki seems to have figured that out. They don’t need to be at MotoGP. They make the small block Chevy, I guess it’s all about the LS now, but you get the idea. If you are going to buy a fleet of track day bikes with your own money, you are most likely going to waltz into a Suzuki dealer and buy a couple dozen GSX-R750s. They’ll probably swing you a sweet deal.
If you really race motorcycles, MotoGP has absolutely zero influence on your equipment decisions.
That’s true. But there are a lot of people who are easily influenced and who only ride track days, if even that. A lot of people who buy open class sport bikes have very poor riding skills. I went on a Ducati club ride once and I couldn’t believe how slow most of those guys were.
The only racing that I do that involves tarmac is supermoto. They would have to at least double the corners on a road race track for me to consider it. To me they all look horribly automotive based. But that’s just me.
I make my ice race tracks so the guys on the 250 four strokes don’t get roasted on the straights. I think the tracks are more fun that way. So I am happy to oblige.