Alberto Puig enjoyed the last race of his first season as Repsol Honda Team Manager this past weekend.
The last round of the 2018 season, the Valencia Grand Prix, saw Repsol Honda complete the triple crown with the Team World Championship. The nineteenth event of the year also meant a farewell for Dani Pedrosa as a MotoGP rider. Alberto Puig analyses this special weekend, which marked the end of his first season at the helm of the team.
What was the strategy for the Valencia race?
“The strategy was to start the race and try to keep the pace that Marc [Márquez] had done during all the weekend. Marc decided to race with the medium rear tyre, because he thought it would be better. He is conscious that this wasn’t the best choice, and it’s not the end of the world. Dani was strong. It looked like he could finish on the podium. Finally he struggled a bit, but he rode a good race. It was a good end to the year.”
Positive points after race?
“The overall positive is that we had already won the riders and constructors world titles and then here we took the teams championship, so we won the triple crown. Now we keep going, with a lot of motivation. We have to look for a path with a new rider with some new team members and this is an opportunity to keep developing as a team.”
The view from the pit wall during the race?
“It was a strange race because the rain always makes everything more difficult. But stopping the race and restarting was the correct decision. Marc was okay after his heavy fall and Dani took some important points for the teams title.”
Inside story apart from official comments?
“This weekend has been very special because it was Dani’s last race in MotoGP. We organised a special farewell party with his family, team, friends and sponsors, plus he was also inducted as a MotoGP Legend, which he deserves after his successful career.”
