Honda sends 2013 motorcycle to Mugello test

MotoGP News
Date: 13/July/2012

Honda is leaving no stone unturned in its quest to win the 2012 MotoGP title and will bring a completely new RC213V motorcycle to Monday’s post-race test at Mugello.

Repsol Honda riders Dani Pedrosa and Casey Stoner are currently 14 and 20 points respectively behind Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo, with the 18-round season reaching its halfway point in Italy on Sunday.

Both reigning champion Stoner, who will retire at the end of this season, and the newly re-signed Pedrosa have battled persistent ‘chatter’ vibration problems with the 2012 spec Bridgestone tyres.

With no cure in sight, Honda has made the radical decision to send a prototype version of next year’s RC213V to the Mugello test.

“On Monday we will have a completely new machine. We will bring two, one for each rider,” explained HRC Executive Vice President Shuhei Nakamoto.

“Originally this machine was next year's prototype, but we have to fix the chatter with the new tyre construction. If the riders are happy, we will race the new machine this year.”

Although featuring few cosmetic changes, Nakamoto made clear that the 2013 bike is significantly different from the present version, with which Stoner (3) and Pedrosa (1) have won half of this year’s eight races. Lorenzo has won the other four.

“The new bike looks very similar, but has many new parts. I can’t give details!” said Nakamoto. “Our priority is to solve the chatter and also stop the front tyre squashing too much.”

Lorenzo was fastest in both of Friday’s free practice sessions at Mugello. Pedrosa finished just 0.031s slower in second, with Stoner lacking 0.451s in sixth place.