Alberto Puig accompanied Marc Márquez to the podium at Le Mans on behalf of the Repsol Honda Team, after a race in which Jorge Lorenzo also gave a positive showing.
The French Grand Prix, the fifth round of the MotoGP World Championship season, saw a third victory for Marc Márquez this year, and his second in a row following the Spanish GP.
The result continues the reigning World Champion’s good form to start the season, and extends his lead in the 2019 overall standings. Team Manager Alberto Puig also notes that on the other side of the Repsol Honda box there were positive signs from Jorge Lorenzo, who continues to make progress in his adaptation to the Honda.
What was the strategy for the Le Mans race?
“The result and overall balance of the weekend is good because again Marc did a very good race and he took 25 points. He could open the gap and managed the whole race well. Also we feel Lorenzo made some small steps forward that is also very important. The balance of the weekend is more on the positive side.
The strategy in Le Mans was complicated due to the weather conditions that everybody was racing in. The soft tyre was what we had to use so we had to be careful from the beginning. Marc managed to stay calm and in the middle of the race he opened the gap, it was enough to get a comfortable three second lead.”
Positive points and negative points after race?
“The positive point is the victory and that Jorge made a step in the right direction. The negative, well we don’t really have a negative from this weekend.”
The view from pit wall during race?
“The weather was very uncertain that could have created some uncertain feelings and you never know what is going to happen. But all the team was alert and focused and ready for anything during the race. This is what you must do when conditions are like this because it can change quickly.”
Inside story apart from official comments?
“It was special for me to be on the podium with Marc, it was nice and it reminded me of everything Honda has achieved and the small part I helped to play, but I think it’s very important because it shows the magnitude and the importance that Honda has in the story of racing. Because our company started racing in 1959 and winning in 1966, since then until today, Honda has been winning races with different types of riders, during different eras, with different types of regulations, different types of machines. It’s very impressive what Honda has done in the past years.”
