Matthew Birt · @birtymotogp
28th Nov 2014 from TwitLonger
HRC outline RC213V plan for Cal Crutchlow and Scott Redding
The factory prototype RC213V machine that Cal Crutchlow and Scott Redding will race at the start of the 2015 MotoGP campaign will be a compromise of the spec used by official HRC duo Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa.
Marquez and Pedrosa raced different frames in 2014, with double MotoGP world champion Marquez requiring a different chassis to suit his all-action and aggressive riding style.
Honda boss Shuhei Nakamoto said that Crutchlow and Redding will start next season on a spec ‘somewhere in the middle’ of Marquez and Pedrosa’s preferred RC213V configuration, while HRC’s engineering staff understand the British duo’s riding style and set-up preference more.
Nakamoto told MCN: “At the moment we will make Cal and Scott a bike somewhere in the middle of the spec of Marc and Dani. This is for the start of the season. In terms of upgrades it depends not only on results but we need to wait to understand what Cal wants or what Scott wants. We need a minimum of three races to understand what they want and this is why we will give them a different spec to begin with. But their engine will be the same as Marc and Dani. It is just the chassis that we need to work on a compromise because the spec Marc uses, only he can ride.”
Crutchlow will ride a factory 1000cc prototype RC213V in Lucio Cecchinello’s LCR squad, while Redding will ride an identical machine in the Marc VDS Racing squad, which will enter the premier class for the first time in 2015.
The British duo will get to ride the 2015-spec RC213V for the first time when winter testing resumes at the Sepang track in Malaysia on February 4.