Honda is committed to making significant progress in the upcoming MotoGP season, taking advantage of the development possibilities it has. And the weight of the bike will have decreased dramatically.
An unidentified source within the team told El Periodico that with the progress made, Marc Márquez would have fulfilled the contract to the end instead of leaving: ‘Most likely, we would have kept Márquez, and undoubtedly, we would have started to recover lost time’.
In fact, the RC213V is almost entirely new for 2024, with the version ridden by Joan Mir and Luca Marini in Valencia last November being about 8kg lighter. From suspension to the engine, through aerodynamics, everything has changed on the bike, in an aggressive development strategy aimed at closing the gap to the top positions.
Development has not stopped since Valencia, and there may be even greater gains—this week, Stefan Bradl tested for two days in Jerez and was quite busy with solutions to try out. In addition to being able to conduct various private tests, Honda also has official shakedown and testing days in Malaysia, as well as tests in Qatar in February.