Round 17 Sepang Track Report

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totalmotorcycle
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Round 17 Sepang Track Report

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Round 17 #Sepang #Track Report



What was the strategy for the Sepang race?

Marc’s strategy was to avoid pushing too much at the beginning of the race, to preserve his tires for the final laps. He was doing a great job but unfortunately he crashed suddenly in Turn 11. Nevertheless he picked up his bike and rejoined the race, showing once again a great pace and recovering several positions to finish 11th, despite the crash! Hiro had a more difficult start of the race, but in the last laps he improved his lap times. Unfortunately he found a good feeling for the bike too late and he finished out of the points in 16th.

Any positive or negative points about the race?

The positive is that Marc showed he had the speed to fight for the podium in both dry and wet conditions throughout the weekend. Compared with the last time we were here in February for winter tests our bike has improved a lot and this is the result of the great work done by our engineers during the season. The negative is that we lost quite a lot of points in the Teams Championship and now we are behind the Factory Yamaha Team. At Valencia we will do our best to try to recover these points!

The view from pit wall during the race?

During the first laps we were pleased to see Marc able to control the situation. He chose to start with carbon front brake discs, despite the rain, because with the high braking temperatures experienced here at Sepang he felt better than if he had used the steel brakes that riders usually use in the rain. This was a good choice as his lap times at the end of the race were very good. We were pleased, after his crash, to see him showing a great determination in picking up the bike and bring home a decent result.


Any inside stories apart from your official comments?

On Saturday evening Marc and Hiro went to say hello to the Honda fans here in Sepang for the Honda Asian Journey. This a big event that brings about 50 journalists together with Honda customers and dealers around Malaysia in a 600km tour organized for the first time this season to enjoy Honda’s big bikes on road.

Was this Marc’s first race with carbon brakes in the wet?

Yes, this was the first time. Marc chose carbon brakes to be stronger with all the hard braking at this circuit. Also, because the rain had stopped before the start and because the ambient temperature here is quite high, even when the circuit is wet. He was happy with this choice and his crash had nothing to do with it.
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