Repsol Honda boss Alberto Puig commented on the HRC’s decision to change the gender of Espargaro to Joan Mir from 2023: as the sports director and manager of the factory team, Alberto sees his task in MotoGP quite clearly and is calm about the two unsuccessful signings of the recent past – with Alex Marquez and Espargaro.
Joan Mir is the 2020 MotoGP champion, and having such valuable experience as a pilot is important. This is proof that the rider knows how to get together at the right moment and achieve his goal.
“We try not to guess, we bet based on analytics,” said Alberto Puig. “We decided to choose Joan because his experience in this class is sufficient, plus, he is a two-time world champion, including the 2020 title in MotoGP.”
How will he and Marc Marquez get along, do you already assume?
Alberto smiles: “In fact, we don’t care how they get along with each other. The difference between the pilots does not matter. The pilot is important to us, his potential, what he can achieve with his work in our team.”
How about a radical change in motorcycle and team and atmosphere for Joan? Not everyone who came to Repsol Honda before managed to get used to it. It was difficult for Jorge Lorenzo, Alex Marquez, and Pol Espargaro, wasn’t it?
Puig: “I must say that our team is not a school class. We provide the pilots with the same bikes, and the rest depends only on their talent and efforts. That’s all… The transition of a pilot without a team is normal today. When we invite a rider, we give him everything he needs to win. This is an agreement between the two sides, everyone is aware of the possible risks. Joan will definitely have to change his style for the RC213V, but right now we don’t have any concrete plan for integrating Mir.”