MotoGP, Honda: a good idea to let Pol Espargaró ‘get away’?

There's a lot of talk about possible new recruits at Honda, but perhaps they already have the best there is. Pol Espargaró has been strong in pre-season testing, particularly in Indonesia. While quick at Sepang, despite having to get to grips with new parts brought by HRC, he was even faster at Mandalika, both over the flying lap and during a race simulation.

The RC213 finally seems to suit the number 44 rider’s characteristics, after a tricky 2021 in which the pandemic and subsequent pauses in bike development conditioned everyone, but particularly the Japanese race department and its respective riders.

And Pol, who came to the factory Repsol team after years aboard the rather different KTM, suffered as a result, the rider himself admitting that he only began to feel truly effective and comfortable on the bike during the second half of the season (or perhaps the final third), his second-place finish at Misano confirming this.

A more malleable RC213 V

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It may well have been the case that Honda stepped up its work on the four-cylinder upon realising that Marc Marquez is neither indestructible nor "highlander". The Japanese manufacturer would have already done so over the last two seasons, and did do so in fact, but the pre-agreed development breaks prevented the team from carrying out comparison tests in the field.

And, in the knowledge that they can’t, and shouldn’t, count only and always on number 93, the HRC engineers have revised the project, making the bike more "malleable", or rather better able to adapt to, and be adapted by those riding it. Alex Marquez has confirmed his, as has Takaaki Nakagami, intent on scoring his first win in the reigning class.

And Pol too has benefitted as a result. Already fast over the years – his Moto2 title in 2013 proof of this – the Spaniard is now in harmony with the RC213 V, powering it around both Sepang and Mandalika, two totally different tracks. And based on the long run he completed in Indonesia, Espargaró would have been in with a chance of a win in a hypothetical race scenario at that track.

If Joan Mir arrives, what would Pol do?

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The bike market plays a part in all this of course. Let’s focus only on Honda, so as not to overload the bench. As we’ve said, there have been hints that Joan Mir may join HRC. The two-time champ - Moto3 in 2017, MotoGP in 2020 – would take a factory seat, leaving the Suzuki that, in the meantime, is striking fear into the competition.

Considering Marc Marquez is "untouchable” until 2024, what would Pol do? Would he remain in the Japanese manufacturer’s orbit, perhaps on the LCR team? Or would he swap with Mir and move to Suzuki? And if HRC were to hire Quartararo, a situation we consider here below? Well, in that case too, Pol would leave Repsol.

The (suggestive) Quartararo hypothesis

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Honda is looking around, that’s clear. And Fabio Quartararo also has an eye out, less than satisfied with his Yamaha. The current champion complained during the Sepang tests, and then again at Mandalika.

El Diablo’s contract is up at the end of the year and, considering the situation, his only real alternative would be with the Repsol Honda outfit. Ducati has a string of youngsters on board and will soon confirm Pecco Bagnaia, before likely choose either Enea Bastianini or Jorge Martin for its factory team. KTM has its own in-house options and is not in the Frenchman’s sights anyway. Aprilia and Suzuki are fast, but Fabio is looking for something else, or at least that’s what he has us believing.

As ever, it will be the results that determine who goes where. As well as the sponsors and other influences of course. But, if Pol were to prove successful, quicker and more consistent than Marquez, what would Honda do? Would they keep hold of him, or let him go, replacing him with Mir – the most likely - or Quartararo? If Espargaró were to run a great 2022 championship, it would be a pity to see him go. Don’t you think, HRC?

Translated by Heather Watson

Mandalika, improvements ahead of the MotoGP round