Honda will only make it official when the Repsol Honda team formally presents its 2021 structure, but Jenny Anderson, the engineer who dealt with the electronics of Pol Espargaró’s KTM has now joined Marc Marquez’s team. She will replace Gerold Bucher, Marc’s "life-long" telemetry technician, who already worked with him on the Repsol CX Moto2 squad.

Hugo, as the paddock veteran is known, was part of Marc Marquez's tightest unit, the most experienced member of world championship staff, having arrived in 1994. It was nevertheless decided, mid-season, that he would only continue to provide his services until the end of 2020.

His place in the "family" that forms Marc Marquez’s team is now taken by Brit Jenny Anderson, who was the electronics engineer for Pol Espargaró on the KTM team until last year. She was responsible for the strategy and management of all today’s sophisticated MotoGP control systems, such as traction, engine brake, power delivery etc.

MotoGP: KTM has all it needs to aim for the title

Jenny Anderson, from single-seaters to KTM

Anderson arrived in the bike world thanks to her experience in GP2 and GP3. "At the time, the head of the KTM electronics department interviewed me via Skype”, Jenny recently told Australian Motorcycle News. "At first they were hesitant to hire someone from the car world because the mentality is very different to that of motorcycles. But the reason they finally agreed is that I had worked with Magneti Marelli, the company that has provided MotoGP with its electronic management system since 2016".

Anderson joined KTM in 2015 and was one of a group of engineers who created the RC16 from scratch. She was tasked with development of the ECU. "My manager said: "Here’s the ECU that we’re going to build in the next six months; prepare something that gets the bike working".

Once the bike was physically built, she was responsible for test team telemetry. From there, she continued to carry out the same role with Pol Espargaró at the tracks, taking on the role of strategy manager. Jenny’s colleagues in the paddock say that she’s "very good" and that Marc has gained a real asset... But it is strange that she will now use her knowledge and experience to help Pol’s biggest rival, his team-mate.

Translated by Heather Watson

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