Alberto Puig praises the attitude of the two Repsol Honda Team riders on a historic weekend, in which Márquez equalled Mike Hailwood’s 76 victories in all classes.
The weekend of the Czech Republic GP was a tough one due to changeable weather conditions, but the Repsol Honda Team riders were able to adapt to achieve the best possible results. Marc Márquez made history once again and increased his lead at the top of the overall standings, and Stefan Bradl finished in the points while doing a positive job for the team.
What was the strategy for the Brno race?
“First of all, I want to say I think the delay was correct because it was for safety reasons and the organizers along with Race Direction were able to listen to the riders, understand the situation and make a good decision. The strategy was of course to be careful in the opening laps because some corners were still wet, particularly the area around the start-finish straight – Turn One was quite tricky. But I also think it was important for Márquez to find his pace and keep it. He was able to understand the conditions and remain consistent, important, as we knew that there would be a drop in the tires for everyone. The drop did not change his pace as it did with other riders. By being consistent, Marc was able to keep his concentration in the tricky conditions we saw.
After the rain on Saturday and then how the weather behaved on Sunday morning, it was a little difficult to define the setting and the feeling from Warm Up wasn’t ideal. We decided to make some changes; Santi Hernández understood what needed to be done. He took the risk and it proved to be the correct decision.”
Positive points and negative points after the race?
“It was all very positive in Brno. Marc won and he now has a 63-point advantage over second place. Stefan also did very well, we have to keep in mind that he is primarily our test rider, but we are making him do many races due to Jorge Lorenzo’s injury. Last week he was in Suzuka for the 8 Hours, then the Czech Republic and he will be at the next round in Austria. So we are very pleased and grateful for his efforts because these last few weeks have been very busy. Essentially, there was nothing negative from the Brno race weekend.”
How was the Brno Test and what can HRC expect next weekend in Austria?
“We were able to test a lot of components during the Monday test and we will study the data to see what we can learn for the future. Regarding Austria, in the past it has been a tough race for us. We did not have the top end speed that we now have. We are not expecting it to be easy, but we do not think it will be as tough as it has been previously.”
Marc equals Hailwood and achieved his 50th victory in the premier class.
“There’s nothing more for me to say, I think the numbers speak for themselves. The key point is Marc is not focusing on these numbers or these records. He is working day after day, working every race, working every week, trying to win races, trying to win championships… You could see it today, he was not thinking about championships or record wins, he was thinking only about how to be as fast as possible and achieve the best result possible. This approach has so far led to many impressive numbers for Marc and the Repsol Honda Team.”
