It’s not just in MotoGP that Honda is working to have a competitive bike and get out of the results crisis it is in. The same process is also happening in the World Superbike Championship, even though in the production-derived motorcycle championship it has a more competitive bike.
At the moment, there is a secondary team from the Japanese manufacturer – the Petronas MIE Racing Honda Team. However, the level of support provided is not yet desired, and cannot be until solutions are found for the CBR1000RR-R to reach the desired level.
Jose Escamez, team manager of HRC in WSBK, explained to the SPEEDWEEK.com website: ‘It is clear that we support them. As soon as we have found the right path with our bikes, we can support another satellite team. Midori has a great team, it is important for us to give them our best. Unfortunately, we are not ready yet. When we have solved our problems and improved our bike, we want to send them more of our developments. But how are we supposed to do that right now if we ourselves are not ready? We know the level we can reach, that’s what we are working for‘.
On the other hand, the manager admitted that he would like to have more satellite teams in WSBK: ‘What is certain is that it is important to support our satellite team, we would like to have several. Unfortunately, that is not the case‘.
After three rounds, the Petronas MIE Racing Honda has seven points, sitting in 12th place in the championship. Meanwhile, Team HRC is in tenth place with 28 points.
