Honda Hires Albesiano
H
onda delivered a bombshell
on the Friday of its home GP
by announcing it has poached
Aprilia's Romano Albesiano to
be its Technical Director starting
next year.
The move represents a signifi
-
cant departure for HRC, where a
Japanese engineer had always
held the position. Just how
much power he will have in the
company remains to be seen.
Albesiano has significant
experience in the aerodynamics
field and has overseen Aprilia's
rise from backmarkers to race
winners since it officially reen
-
tered the MotoGP class in 2015.
"What Romano was able to do
these last six or seven years in
Aprilia has been amazing," said
Aleix Espargaro. "We've grown
these last two or three seasons,
but the first ones were very dif-
ficult. He never gave up, he had
a lot of ideas, he made the bike
year by year better.
"I think HRC doesn't have to
change everything. They won
a lot in the past with their way
of work, but obviously, today,
the Italian engineers are on top
of the world, so to mix this will
make Honda really, really strong
for next year."
Marc Marquez may be re
-
moved from Honda, but he saw
the move as positive for his
former employer. "The philoso-
phy, sometimes in the competi-
tion you need to change, and
you need to adapt to what the
situation requests," he said.
"And now the situation of Honda
requires being in the top as fast
as possible.
"To do that, take engineers,
makes it faster and cheaper, that
movement. Because in the end,
you go in the way that the other
manufacturers go, and he will
give you the information for sure
from another manufacturer. And
for me, it's a good move. And
I'm happy, because it looks like
Honda keeps pushing."
Neil Morrison
WIND
IN THE
P28
Aprilia mastermind
Romano Albesiano is
off to Honda.
