MotoGP: Riders are preparing for tough conditions at the biggest race of the year at Phillip Island this weekend.
Tough Phillip Island conditions expected | 00:45Marc Márquez has made official his decision to leave Honda for Ducati factory team Gresini. Now the clean-up begins.. He’s leaving the MotoGP’s most successful constructor for a satellite minnow, and to get there he’s taking a reported mega pay cut of as much as 98.5 per cent.
Honda still has some prestige of course. Despite the deep, dark hole it’s found itself in, there’s this lingering faith that it can’t be far from turning it around. It’s certainly not short on the resources to match Ducati.Promise and pay — are they enough to convince a rider to break a contract and make a change?
Zarco was a solid replacement who could perform and bring sponsorship to the satellite outfit. Losing him so late in the rider market would be a blow. There are reasons he may not jump so quickly at a Honda move, however. One is the state of Honda’s bike, but the other is the potential to move up to the Aprilia factory team if Aleix Espargaró retires or Maverick Viñales leaves the team — more on that below.But Oliveira admitted at the weekend that he’d been approached, and he left the door wide open to a potential change.
But he makes less sense to the Japanese marque than, say Oliveira. While he’s renowned for his speed, he also has a reputation for being high maintenance — his falling out with Yamaha is only the highest profile example.