A fortnight after securing a hat-trick of three consecutive MotoGP wins in France, Honda’s grand prix racers face a new challenge in Italy. The task is not only to continue the run of first places ... but to build on the strong championship positions achieved in the early races.

The Italian GP is the fifth round, and third in the European season. The venue is spectacular, set in a narrowing valley packed with passionate fans.

Both Repsol Honda RC213V riders have tasted victory at Mugello, but each race is a new beginning. This year, one or both of the riders have been on the rostrum at every race so far. Another double-top is the target.

In Qatar and Texas it was scintillating class rookie Marc Marquez setting the pace even while learning how to get the best out of his super-fast Honda racer. At the second round the 20-year-old reigning Moto2 World Champion took a maiden pole and race win to become the youngest ever in the premier class.

At the next two rounds senior team-mate Dani Pedrosa hit his stride, winning at Jerez and in dire wet-to-dry conditions at Le Mans in France. The 27-year-old Spaniard now leads the points table from Marquez, fulfilling pre-season predictions that his eighth year in the Repsol Honda would be his best yet, after he closed last season with a run of wins.

The key to his upturn this year was finding the right settings to give him the right machine balance and feeling to exploit his smooth style to the maximum. Dani describes how Mugello’s fast, sweeping corners demand the best possible settings, and hopes the balance he has found will work as well here as at the last two tracks. Dani has one Mugello win and three other rostrums in the last seven races at the track.

Marquez followed up his win in Austin, Texas with a fighting second at Jerez, seized in the last corner from defending champion Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) in an attacking move that made the headlines, and further underlined the class rookie’s blazing arrival in the premier class.

At Le Mans, in his first wet race on a 250-plus horsepower MotoGP Honda, he stunned the fans again, riding through from ninth to third. Marc has won at Mugello in both 125 and Moto2 classes. His first attempt on a MotoGP bike is eagerly awaited.

Team GO&FUN Honda Gresini RC213V rider Alvaro Bautista came through to sixth place at Le Mans, his third such finish in a perfect top-ten tally so far. He lies seventh overall. The Spanish former 125 World Champion combines his racing role with that of suspension development: the only rider in the class to use Showa suspension.

The last race brought more woe for German former Moto2 World Champion Stefan Bradl. He was running strongly with the top riders when he was unsighted by a badly fogged visor, slipping off and remounting for tenth. He lies 11th overall after two earlier non-finishes, and will be striving to make amends at Mugello, where newly improved machine settings should give him the chance to regain lost ground.

Australian Bryan Staring sees the race as another chance to score his first points to prove his growing confidence with his CBR1000RR-powered CRT bike. The GO&FUN Honda Gresini FTR Honda rider had been confident of a good result in France, but crashed out early in the race, blaming “impatience”.

The Mugello circuit is a magnificent venue for grand prix racing, with sweeping curves and chicanes using both sides of the valley in a lap of 5.245 km (3.259 miles). Running clockwise it has nine right-hand and six left-hand corners, forming a series of loops and high-speed chicanes. It is most famous for its 1.1-km “straight”, undulating past the pits to finish over a blind brow at more than 350 km/h, followed directly by a looping 120-km/h corner.

Used fitfully in the 1970s and 1980s, the track outside Florence underwent a major refit for new owner Ferrari, and joined the calendar full time in 1991. In 22 years Honda has taken 12 wins in the Tuscan foothills.



Repsol Honda rider Dani Pedrosa says:

“After the race in Le Mans, I’ve managed to relax this week and I feel good physically. Mugello is a nice track and one that I really enjoy to ride. It’s a fast track with long corners so it’s important to have a good feeling with the bike. Usually the weather is good to us and there is a great atmosphere with all the fans there. I am leading the championship, which is very special so I hope to arrive in Mugello and find that the bike works well there too, and we can do a good race.”

Repsol Honda rider Marc Marquez says:

“I'm really pleased with the race in Le Mans, it was great experience for me to ride in the wet but now I am happy to go to Mugello and hopefully have some nice weather! Mugello is a difficult circuit, perhaps one of the most difficult in the World Championship. It has many changes of direction so we must work hard from the beginning to find the right set up. These coming races will be very important as they are difficult circuits and we must remain focused. The other riders are so fast in Mugello so I’m sure it’s going to be tough. As always we will try our 100 percent,”

GO&FUN Honda Gresini rider Alvaro Bautista says:

“We had a really good feeling for the bike at Le Mans even though the conditions were particularly difficult. We found a good wet setting and in general the team did a very good job, especially considering the fact that we were working off data from a less than perfect weekend last year. This year we were setting lap times in line with the guys who finished on the podium, and even though I am still having some problems getting the bike out of the corners we are making good progress in general. Mugello is a completely different circuit from Le Mans. It is technical, fast, with various changes in direction and elevation. It will be important to stay focused and do a good job from the first minute to the last to make sure that we bury the memory of a bad weekend last year. I am determined to get a good result and I know this is a special Grand Prix for the team because it is their home race.”

LCR Honda rider Stefan Bradl says:

“I have very good memories about my first race in the premier class at Mugello circuit. I finished the race in fourth, impressing everybody and I felt very happy about my performance because I really like the Italian circuit. This weekend is one of the most important for LCR and a lot of supporters are keen to see me and to give me an extra boost. The atmosphere will be warm but not the weather. However I am looking forward to this race and it would be amazing to repeat last years result. In Le Mans we have found a good way to solve our front-end issue and I could lap with more confidence. The race was particularly tough due to the rainy conditions but I arrive in Italy with high motivation and a good overall package.”

GO&FUN Honda Gresini rider Bryan Staring says:

“There should be a fantastic atmosphere at Mugello because this is the home race for Team GO&FUN Honda Gresini. I want to put the result from Le Mans behind me as quickly as possible and in order to do that I need to work hard from the first session to learn the layout and make progress with the bike set-up. It is another new circuit for me but on paper the layout looks exciting. I really want to have a good race here and close down the gap to the points-scoring positions.”

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