Honda Excited to Learn About Ducati from Jorge Lorenzo

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Honda Excited to Learn About Ducati from Jorge Lorenzo

Honda is hoping Jorge Lorenzo will reveal the strong points of the Ducati Desmosedici GP18.
The Spanish riders is joining Honda from Ducati in 2019.
Honda hopes to work with Lorenzo to add stability to the RC213V.

Honda Racing Corporation (HRC) hopes to find out more from Jorge Lorenzo about the how the Ducati compares to the Honda RC213V.

HRC Technical Manager Takeo Yokoyama said that he is curious about the Ducati’s strong points when Lorenzo joins the Japanese team from next season.

Repsol Honda factory team rider Marc Marquez is on the way to sealing his fifth MotoGP title, but it doesn’t discount the fact that the Desmosedici GP18 is considered the best all-round bike. It took six victories so far, three each for Lorenzo and his teammate Andrea Dovizioso.

“He (Lorenzo) is a champion, he has ridden many different bikes in the past and he has been always fast. So, I think he can adapt to our bike,” Yokoyama told MotoGP.com.

“I’m really curious to hear about Ducati’s strong points, what is Honda’s strong points – because that’s what he will say.”

Yokoyama continues, “We will not make a completely different bike. We will not make a bike ‘to the right’ for Marc and ‘to the left’ for Jorge. But slightly different is no problem for us.

However, Lorenzo prefers a stable motorcycle especially during corner entry as he rides the traditional “long arc” style, rather than “point and shoot” like Marquez.

“Maybe one of the things that I’m a little worried he would struggle with is the stability of the bike (Honda). I think you can see from TV that the Honda is many times shaking, dancing, jumping,” admits Yokoyama.

“Probably, he’s not the guy who likes to fight with the unstable bike and from our side I guess we need to make the bike a little more stable than we have now. But also from his side, maybe he needs to adapt to a little more unstable bike.

“If we can do this, and if he can do this, I think we will be successful.”

Lorenzo will get his first taste of the Honda in November during the Valencia post-race test.

Editor Info

Wahid Ooi

Wahid's lust for motorcycles was spurred on by his late-Dad's love for his Lambretta on which he courted, married his mother, and took baby Wahid riding on it. He has since worked in the motorcycle and automotive industry for many years, before taking up riding courses and testing many, many motorcycles since becoming a motojournalist. Wahid likes to see things differently. What can you say about a guy who sees a road safety message in AC/DC's "Highway to Hell."