Eleven years after the arrival of Marc Márquez, HRC faces a new phase in its history in the highest competition, having to start almost from scratch a new project to try to face the current dominators of MotoGP, the European brands Ducati, KTM, and Aprilia.
After announcing last week that they had agreed to “mutually terminate” a relationship that would end in 2024, the Asian giant is preparing to face a true revolution starting from a completely blank sheet.
In addition to having a rider of the caliber of Joan Mir, world champion in 2020 with Suzuki, and who has one more year on his contract with the Tokyo manufacturer, Honda has on its agenda the difficult task of finding a replacement for Márquez, so far the main figure of the brand and its most successful rider – six titles in seven possible between 2013 and 2019. According to information from Motorsport.com, HRC’s main goal is Miguel Oliveira, who currently competes for Aprilia’s satellite team, RNF.
The Portuguese rider has one more year on his contract with Aprilia, which pays his salary, but the contract includes a clause that would release him if he received an offer from a factory team. This is how Alex Rins left LCR to sign with Yamaha for the upcoming season.
At 28 years old, Oliveira is seen as the most attractive option for several reasons. In addition to his experience – five years in MotoGP – the rider has five wins in the premier category, where only five current grid riders have more wins than him. Considering that Honda’s financial offer will be higher than his current salary, Oliveira’s only doubt may be regarding the technical aspect, especially considering the riders who have recently passed through the official HRC team, such as Dani Pedrosa, Jorge Lorenzo, Pol Espargaró, and Marquez. From a commercial point of view, Oliveira would also be a good choice for Repsol, Honda’s main sponsor, which has interests in Portugal, where Oliveira is a true celebrity. Oliveira entered the 125cc world championship in 2011. From 2012 to 2015, he competed in Moto3 and in Moto2 from 2016 to 2018. In 2019, he moved up to MotoGP with Tech3, despite having a promise from KTM that he would go to the official team, where he finally arrived in 2021. To this day, he is the rider with the most wins with a KTM. An injury in the first race of 2023, in Portimão, after being hit by Márquez, and another accident in Jerez, have affected Oliveira’s season, as he has so far missed two races (Argentina and France) and is in 13th place in the standings.
