The sensational pairing of Jorge Lorenzo and Marc Marquez in the factory Honda team came together within less than two weeks, and the approach came from the rider himself.
This became clear to a paddock still reeling with the surprise news, as the weekend of the Catalunyan GP opened, when Lorenzo faced media for the first time since the announcement days after the Italian GP.
He had approached HRC at the previous round in France; and within two weeks the deal was done … although it could not be announced officially until the preceding announcement that Dani Pedrosa would not be staying with the Repsol team.
“My first priority was always to stay with Ducati, and until Le Mans I thought that we could continue together, But at Le Mans I realised Ducati wanted to change me for another rider,” he said. “Then with my manager we started to think of other projects.
Lorenzo, Marquez, Catalunya MotoGP 2018
“I made the approach.”
At that time, Honda was already casting around for a replacement for Pedrosa. They had already been rebuffed by Johann Zarco, who had signed for KTM even before the first race of the year; while an approach to Jack Miller, trying to buy him out of the second year of his Pramac contract, was yet to bear fruit.
When the only rider to have defeated Marquez in the MotoGP class came knocking, it was easy to ink in the details quickly.
Lorenzo had said at Mugello that he was to leave Ducati next season, but would return for two years “on a competitive motorcycle”. Speculation linked him to a return to Yamaha, in the still unconfirmed Petronas satellite team. The Honda factor came out of the blue.
Asked how it had remained a secret, Lorenzo smiled. “Because we didn’t tell anybody,” he said.
As to adapting to a third bike in the class, he said: “I have won on different bikes before. I have that capacity.”
New team-mate Marquez welcomed what would be “a big change inside Honda.” A new team-mate with “another riding style” would give valuable input for bike development.
Fellow factory-bike rider Cal Crutchlow, whose style is much closer to Marquez’s aggressive approach than the ultra-smooth Lorenzo, thought that “Honda played a very good card there”.
ByMichael Scott
Marquez, Catalunya MotoGP 2018