What was the strategy for the Valencia race?
Marc showed a very strong pace during the whole weekend. For the race he finally chose the softer rear tire – the same as Jorge [Lorenzo] and the others – and it was clear that the race would have been a question between them. The plan was to try to save the tires for the end of the race to be able to fight for the win. With Dani the situation was different. He was coming back from injury, so his strategy was just to find a good feeling with the bike once again.
Any positive or negative points about the race?
The positive is that Marc did a great second part of the race! After he overtook Iannone and Rossi he made a gap on them and then started closing the gap with Lorenzo, but unfortunately it was too late. Anyway his second position was enough to give Honda the Constructors World Championship! The negatives were clearly Marc’s bad start and Dani’s crash, but the good thing is that his crash had no physical consequences.
The view from pit wall during the race?
At the start it was a surprise to see Marc losing so many positions, but then it was a great show to see him battling with Rossi and Iannone for several laps! When Marc overtook them and created a gap he started catching Lorenzo and we hoped all the way to the end that he would have been able to catch him, but it wasn’t possible this time! And it was a real pity to see Dani crash at lap seven.
Any inside stories apart from your official comments?
On Wednesday, before the start of the weekend, we had a team dinner to celebrate the 2016 championship all together, and also to welcome back Dani and to thank Nakamoto san for the great job he has done for HRC, because next April he begins his pension. It was a great party!
Please tell us the most impressive Grand Prix and the biggest disappointment
The Japanese GP was mixed feelings! The biggest disappointment was when Dani had a big crash and got injured in FP1 at Motegi. The most impressive was Marc’s victory on that Sunday, winning at Honda’s circuit and, most importantly, winning the title.