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The Repsol Honda Team retained the Teams World Championship title in Japan and continue to be the standout team in the premier class thanks to the achievements of Dani Pedrosa and Marc Marquez.
NSR RC211V RC212V RC213V … Far more than mere acronyms, these letters and numbers are chapters in the history of the MotoGP World Championship. Since Repsol and Honda joined forces 1995, Grand Prix racing’s most powerful pairing has always been in the fight for victory in the premier class. With nine titles already, in 2013 the team is gunning for glory with Dani Pedrosa and Marc Marquez –a duo which have given the outfit a sixth Teams World Championship.
During the last two decades, champions like Doohan, Stoner and Criville have raced and won onboard a Repsol Honda machine, making the bikes with the recognisable orange rims some of the most iconic images in the World Championship. Nine individual titles and over one hundred victories have been a selection of the sporting highlights for a team and a bike that has evolved year-after-year on track.
The potent combination began with the 500cc 2-stroke NSR 500cc bikes ‒machines that marked an era of 5 consecutive titles between 1995 and 1999. With the introduction of the 990cc MotoGP class and 4-stroke engines, the RC211V arrived on the scene. Valentino Rossi was the man responsible for the first two titles on that bike, in 2002 and 2003, and Nicky Hayden for the final one in 2006. From there, a change to an 800cc limit brought in the RC212V, with which Casey Stoner was crowned World Champion in 2011.
Currently, with 1000cc engine capacity bikes, Dani Pedrosa and Marc Marquez are riding the RC213V to glory. With a tenth podium double of the year at the Japanese GP, both riders took Repsol Honda’s sixth Teams World Championship title since the introduction of the honour in 2002.
