Repsol Honda rider Joan Mir says that the team’s upcoming trial of a new RC213V chassis built by German fabricator Kalex rather than HRC will not be the silver bullet that it needs to get back to winning ways.
That’s despite the amount of attention that has been given to the venerable factory’s decision to subcontract Moto2’s dominant manufacturer to build such a crucial part.
Speaking ahead of this weekend’s Grand Prix of the Americas, where he will line up alongside Honda test rider Stefan Bradl as Marc Marquez continues to recover from injury, Mir was adamant that even if the new frame arrives (something that hasn’t even been officially communicated to him yet), he doesn’t believe it will make a substantial difference to Honda’s disappointing start to the season.
“That chassis, I’ve only heard about because of you!” he admitted to the media at the Circuit of the Americas. “I don’t know about it at the moment. I have to speak to the team about it because I’ve heard something but at the moment there’s nothing on the table, I think.
“I don’t trust on one chassis that will give me all that I need. Acceleration, top speed, everything. I don’t think it’s like that. Every help that we get is important and it is welcome, but I trust a lot on working on the details and not changing the bike completely race by race just because you don’t understand the potential.
“One chassis, one small adjustment on the engine, one swing arm to have better grip – these are things that for example Aprilia and Ducati were doing for a lot of years, is what will bring you back to the top. Day by day pushing hard.”
The new frame was supposed to make its testing debut earlier this week at Jerez, with Bradl joining Yamaha, KTM and Aprilia for a two-day outing at the Spanish circuit before flying to Texas in time to replace Marquez.
However, it didn’t appear there, with The Race’s paddock sources instead suggesting that the completed item has instead been sent to Japan for analysis before being used for the first time not only by Bradl but by Marquez and Mir as well at the post-race Monday test at Jerez next month.
“We have done two days,” the German explained, “because I stopped on the last day at 3pm because I had to take the plane. We learned some things. There’s been some rumours about the Kalex chassis, but I can tell you directly that it was not there. I didn’t see any of it.
“We were working on our normal test plan, our normal schedule. We had new things, of course, but I have to be careful because this test was private. Let’s say confidential, even though other manufacturers were there. That’s all I can tell you – that we didn’t have a Kalex chassis.”
However, while Mir might be a little sceptical about the ability of the new chassis to bring a big step forward, Bradl was more optimistic. Adamant that the amount of hard work he sees being done by Honda will eventually pay off, the veteran test rider says their time will come.
“I think yes,” he said when asked if he believed it could make a difference to their form. “We’re all trying to stay optimistic. It’s not going to be possible to have one thing that brings us back on top, but consistent and hard work will pay off.
“This is where we want to be. Of course it will require more time, but I can see that the people in Japan and all our European test team is very hungry and motivated to bring us forward again.”
