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Video: Happiness at Honda: Marc Márquez won on the right, Pol Espargaró debuts on the podium and first double in MotoGP since 2017
2024 Author: Nicholas Abramson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-10 16:34
The Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at the Misano circuit did not look like the most favorable race possible for Honda, but it turned out to be the biggest explosion of euphoria for the brand with the golden wing in many years. Not only because Marc Márquez's victory, but because Pol Espargaró completed the double.
Supported by the falls of the official Ducati ridersYes, but Márquez and Espargaró achieved the best combined result of Honda since 2017. Little by little the illusion is returning to a brand that went through a journey in the desert and not even so long ago that it flirted with concessions, but now it returns to be aspiring to everything by 2022.
Honda is already fourth by brands and Márquez sixth in the general of pilots
"Today it gives some Japanese something," Márquez said with a laugh at the end of the race in Misano. It is not for less, since the three parts of the garage have achieved a historical milestone that unlocks them mentally. Honda, Márquez and Espargaró are the big winners of the repetition in Misano, with the permission of Fabio Quartararo.
Márquez finally needed to win on a right-wing circuit. He had verbalized it himself before the race, although lowering expectations to a simple podium. Winning in Austin and the Sachsenring is usual for him, but prevailing in Misano, even if it is due to someone else's crash, shows that Márquez is already recovered. The shoulder is history.
In addition, it is Márquez's 99th podium in the world championship, so we will soon have a very special figure. Quite the opposite of Pol Espargaró, who finally achieved his first podium with Honda in Misano. In the shadows, but the growth of the Spanish driver has been constant in the last few races, since he took pole position at Silverstone.
"I hope this is common for next year," said a smiling Espargaró who completes the Honda double. The last time two gold-wing bikes took the podium together was in Australia 2019, when Márquez won and Cal Crutchlow finished second. A double for the brand, but not for the official team.
The last time that the two bikes of the official team, the Repsol Honda, got on the podium together was in Valencia 2017, with Dani Pedrosa first and Marc Márquez third. But to find the last HRC double you have to go back to the Aragon Grand Prix that same year, when Márquez won ahead of Pedrosa.
This doublet puts Honda in fourth position in the world of brands and only nine points away from taking third place from Suzuki. In addition, Repsol Honda is also fourth in teams and Marc Márquez has climbed to the sixth position of the general drivers, very close to Jack Miller and Johann Zarco, and with two less disputed races.
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