2021 MOTOGP SEASON PREVIEW
P92
Feature
HONDA New Hope
Even in the older Marquez's absence,
there is an abundance of positivity sur-
rounding Honda for 2021. Fresh from its
worst premier class campaign (no wins,
no poles and only two podiums) since
1981, there were fears this could be a
wasted preseason with Marquez miss-
ing and Pol Espargaro needing time to
adapt to the particular RC213V.
Yet the opposite was true. Test rider
Stefan Bradl ably substituted for the
eight-time champ while Espargaro was
running podium rhythm by day four. So
much for a period of adaptation…
The machine remains a critical beast,
however. LCR Honda's Alex Marquez and
Takaaki Nakagami shared eight crashes
between them across the five days of
running in Qatar, with the former frac-
turing a toe in his right foot. Honda's
front-end must be pushed to its limits
to extract a lap time. But in Marc's
hands it should be capable of race wins
at the very least.
Pol Espargaro has
been dynamite
on the Honda in
preseason testing
and will be in the
hunt for race wins
and possibly a title
challenge in 2021.
