Alberto Puig “We will have an important test on Thursday and Friday.”

Repsol Honda Team Manager Alberto Puig is optimistic after Round 12 of the MotoGP World Championship season, which was positive overall for the team. Series leader Marc Márquez challenged for victory until the final corner, and extended his advantage in the standings. Teammate Jorge Lorenzo returned after two months out with a vertebrae injury.

[Question] What was the strategy for the Silverstone race?

[Answer] Our strategy was as always to do the best without taking any unnecessary risks. The weekend has been positive overall. Jorge [Lorenzo] was back and this was very important for all of us. It was not easy for him this weekend as he has been away for a long time, but he was back on the bike and he managed to achieve his target of finishing the race. On the other hand, Márquez again raced for victory.

He had a problem with the tyre, but he was still able to ride the bike well until the end of the race to fight for victory and in the end take a good finish for the championship. He couldn’t win the race unfortunately, but his tyre was not in a perfect condition to fight. In any case, we are very happy as we have been able to increase the advantage over our competitors. We leave Silverstone with a good feeling and in a good position.

[Q] Positive points and negative points after the race?

[A] The positive is that Lorenzo came back and also that we leave Silverstone with more points than when we arrived. Fortunately there aren’t really any negatives from the weekend. Overall we are happy.

[Q] What was the view from the pit wall during the race?

[A] It was a very interesting race to watch. Rins did a fantastic job to stay with Marc and we have to congratulate him for his race. I think it was a very good show for the spectators; they had a good race to watch and nice weather.

Unfortunately at the start of the race Dovizioso and Quartararo crashed, if they didn’t crash they would have been able to stay with the front group and make the race even closer. We hope they are both OK and fit for the next race.

[Q] Now we are going to Misano.

[A] Yes. Now we head to Misano where we will have an important test on Thursday and Friday before the race we have there in September. There are some new components to try not just for the remainder of this season but also for next year. This will allow the engineers to make their final assessment and finalise the plan for the future. It will be a very interesting couple of days.