Honda Racing Corporation (HRC) is willing to do anything next season to be able to take Jorge Lorenzo to the MotoGP title. That’s been confirmed by HRC technical director Takeo Yokoyama during an interview with Speedweek.com .
Yokoyama knows that Jorge Lorenzo has specific requirements regarding his MotoGP bikes, and in order to let the Spaniard use the full potential of the 2019 factory spec Honda RC213V, HRC will develop a different bike just for him, instead of having just a single spec prototype with small specific details for Marc Marquez or Jorge Lorenzo.
This approach by HRC is totally different than what Lorenzo experienced during his two season stint with Ducati factory. The Italians weren’t able to develop a Desmosedici prototype according to Lorenzo’s needs, and only by the middle of the 2018 season the Ducati Corse racing department was able to manufacture and deliver the specific fuel tank and seat requested by Lorenzo a long time ago.
The results were immediate, with Lorenzo winning as soon as he got what he asked for, but by that time was already on his way to join Marc Marquez at Repsol Honda in 2019.
According to Takeo Yokoyama, “If Jorge asks, we will do something special. We have two factory riders, and if they need something different, we will make two different bikes. Obviously the engine specs will be the same for both riders, but we can do different things regarding the frame, chassis setup and other parts”, says Yokoyama, who also doesn’t discard the possibility of Honda creating and developing two different frames for each of the factory riders.
During the Jerez test, Jorge Lorenzo already saw that Honda is willing to do everything so that he becomes MotoGP champion with the Japanese brand.
During those post-season tests, Lorenzo requested Repsol Honda to give him a special fuel tank and seat unit for his bike. He requested this in Valencia, right after the MotoGP season finale. A week later, Honda Racing Corporation already had the parts built in Japan, taking the parts to Jerez, and Lorenzo felt much more comfortable riding the RC213V prototype.