Shuhei Nakamoto, HRC Executive Vice President, has reflected positively on the Repsol Honda Team’s 2012 campaign and is looking to carry their end-of-season form over into 2013.

Speaking on the Monday after the final MotoGP™ race in Valencia, which Dani Pedrosa won, Nakamoto stated he was happy at how the season had finished, in particular after having won the Constructors Championship and recording the most wins this season. Naturally he stated his disappointment at not being able to come away with the World Title, but concluded that the issues at the start of the season, with regards to chattering and the new front tyre, made that a very difficult task.

For 2013 the Repsol Honda Team lines up once more with Dani Pedrosa, yet will also see exciting Moto2™ talent Marc Márquez step up to the premier-class. Tomorrow’s test in Valencia will see both riders get onto a new RC213V machine for the 2013 campaign, with Nakamoto saying that Pedrosa’s task will predominantly be evaluating the new bike against the current model, whilst Márquez needs to put in the laps to familiarise himself with a MotoGP™ machine. Nakamoto remained tight-lipped on the bike’s new features, yet is hoping that both his riders will take their respective forms into next season.

It was also announced this weekend that for 2014 there will be a spec ECU for all teams, which, if run with in-house software, limits the fuel to 20-litres – one less than at present. Nakamoto had for long been vocal against the introduction of a “Spec ECU”, yet explained that he had always referred to the both the hardware and software combination. With this scenario however, he has pronounced himself happy, as Honda is able to use its in-house software on the standard ECU.

Speaking of the 2014 season, Nakamoto also explained that Honda’s “Production Racer”, which is set to be a more cost-effective prototype machine available to other teams, is still firmly in its plans. He said a version will be ready for the first pre-season test ahead of 2014, and that the main differences to the factory bike, to help keep the costs down, will be the use of valve springs, a standard transmission and single-issue software. The latter means that the bike will benefit from the 24-litre fuel limit.

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