Johann Zarco and Takaaki Nakagami are looking forward to Aleix Espargaro as HRC’s test rider, with Nakagami noting that “a really good test rider is not everything “
Hind the scenes, Aleix Espargaro and Honda have already reached an agreement, but it has not yet been officially announced: The most experienced of all current MotoGP riders, whose career as a regular rider comes to an end at the end of the 2024 season, is to work as an official test rider in the Honda Racing Corporation (HRC) MotoGP program in the future.
It is well known that Honda has been in a serious form crisis in the premier class of the motorcycle world championship for years. With the departure of star rider Marc Marquez last winter, a new era has dawned for the Japanese manufacturer. Despite concessions, this has not yet been crowned with success.
In both the current 2024 MotoGP manufacturers’ standings and the current 2024 MotoGP team standings, Honda is in last place and last place respectively. In the team standings, the factory team and the satellite team LCR are the two lowest-placed teams, with the factory team even worse off than the satellite team.
In the current 2024 MotoGP rider standings, Luca Marini, the Honda successor to Marc Marquez, is still the only one of all 22 regular riders who has not yet scored a single championship point after seven race weekends of the season. The immense experience of Aleix Espargaro as the designated new test rider comes in handy.
“That will be good,” says Johann Zarco, who is under contract with LCR-Honda as a regular rider up to and including 2025. “Aleix has a lot of experience and he is finishing his career at a very high level. As far as the development of motorcycles is concerned, he was always the one at Suzuki and Aprilia who was constantly pushing. That can only be good for Honda,” Zarco is convinced.
“What’s more,” the Frenchman continues his comments about Espargaro, “signing a rider who knows the Aprilia inside out will be interesting. It’s always good for Honda because it’s additional information when a rider switches from another bike.”
Zarco’s LCR teammate Takaaki Nakagami sees it the same way. “This is of course extremely positive news for Honda,” says the Japanese rider about the deal between HRC and Aleix Espargaro. The Spaniard is still under contract with Aprilia until the end of the 2024 MotoGP season.
Espargaro will then be allowed to ride the Honda RC213V, possibly as early as the traditional Valencia test. This year, it will once again take place directly in the week after the Valencia Grand Prix.
“Aleix has a lot of experience with MotoGP bikes,” says Nakagami and emphasizes: “The fact that the Aprilia has become a winning motorcycle is also thanks to him. He has potential, he is fast. I only see this as a positive thing for Honda.”
“But,” notes Nakagami, “a really good test rider is not everything. In my opinion, the engineers are even more important. They are the ones who have to build a good bike.”
