The new ‘dream team’ of the Repsol-Honda MotoGP team, Jorge Lorenzo and Marc Márquez, promises to combine a rivalry “with respect” on the track and a camaraderie in the box that will help improve their mounts and achieve success in 2019.
Current world champion, Marc Márquez sees how the retirement of Dani Pedrosa leaves room for Jorge Lorenzo, to form, on paper, a powerful team that gathers eight world titles in the premier category of motorcycling.
“I join a historic team and I am very proud to take the Honda,” said Lorenzo, 31, who left Ducati at the end of last season, which he described as “very tough”, to the point that he even considered retiring because “I saw that it was working, but the results weren’t good.”
The three-time MotoGP world champion (2010, 2012 and 2015) joins Márquez at Honda with whom he had some friction in the past, although now both are preparing to try to carry out healthy competition within the same team.
– ‘Companions, but rivals’ –
“We are teammates, but we are rivals on the track, always with respect,” said Márquez, recalling that with his competition “many times we will help each other without knowing it to increase the level, that will be good to improve the bike.”
«That of the two roosters in a henhouse, people tend to show the negatives more than the positives. In this case, having two strong riders, always making them grow, so that the other does not relax, ”assured Lorenzo.
«The pique that Marc and I may have is something natural because we have the same weapons. It is a love-hate that makes you better, “said the former Ducati and Yamaha rider.
Márquez, however, tries to keep his feet on the ground in the face of the expectations that the duo assembled by Honda may have raised.
“I don’t like the ‘dream team’ thing, that’s fine if you get to the end of the year and you’re up there,” said Márquez, 25, just a few weeks before the season starts on March 10 at the Gran Qatar Award.
A start to the season to which both Márquez and Lorenzo arrive weighed down by injuries.
Marquez is still recovering from the right shoulder operation he underwent last December to fix the discomfort he suffered with the joint throughout last season.
– Complicated operation –
“The operation was a bit complicated because they saw that there were more broken things than had been thought at the beginning,” said the five-time MotoGP world champion (2013, 2014, 2016, 2017 and 2018).
“My goal is Qatar, but in the Sepang tests (from February 6 to 8) I hope I can already do something,” said Márquez, admitting that he will not be 100%, but highlighting the importance of those tests, where the team will test new parts for your bike.
Lorenzo will not be at those rehearsals “because in a fortnight he would have a lot of pain, but I will be in Qatar” for the tests that will take place between February 23 and 25.
Lorenzo attended the presentation of his new team on Wednesday with his hand bandaged after undergoing surgery on the scaphoid of his left wrist last Monday.
The Mallorcan rider, who assured that he has a lot to learn from Márquez, praised his new mount that he tested in testing in Valencia and Jerez last November.
“I liked the bike a lot, it is very agile, it goes very well in the corners, in general I loved the team,” added Lorenzo, admitting that some adjustments will have to be made. AFP