Repsol Honda 2013 Lineup

[Wafer_Thin_Ham]

With Stoner apparently retiring at the end of the year, what do you think the Repsol Honda line up will be.

My money's on

Pedrosa - Marques.

Or

Rossi - Marques.

Rossi back to Repsol Honda could be in with an outside chance depending on how many bridges he burnt. Then he can bring Marques on, and retire in two years. What do we think?
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[lihp]

Honestly can't see Rossi going back to Honda, I think Honda will have him but not the other way around.

The Honda is obviously a fantastic machine, but can you imagine the ridicule and questioning of his abilities?

Wins on Honda, Wins on Yamaha, Fails on Ducati, Wins on Honda.

imo, his reputation is now hanging on whether or not he can win on the Ducati

[ChowderV4]

rookies cant go straight to a factory teams so marques is a no go.
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[Gman360]

I doubt Rossi will go back to Honda, but you never know!
Don't forget if Ben Spies dose not pull his socks up there will be a seat going on a Yamaha.
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[lihp]

[Al]

I think Pedrosa is probably safe and they will promote from one of the satellite honda teams, so Bautista or Bradl. I think the fact that Bautista is already on a factory spec bike, is more experienced and Spanish will mean it is almost certainly him if he can be a regular top 5 finisher this season.
Although I reckon both riders will be on 1 year contracts to give them options when Marques is available to join, they won't want another situation like last year where they have to run three bikes to honour contracts.
That is of course unless they don't steal Lorenzo from Yamaha as without Stoner he is pretty much your champion for the next couple of years.
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[Llama-Farmer]

Can't see Rossi back on the Honda tbh.

Ben Spies doesn't seem to be liking the Yam this season though, he may fancy a change. Then there's Cal Crutchlow, I reckon he'll go to the Yam factory team in Ben's place, but if he doesn't, he may well fancy the Honda.

I always fancied Marco Simoncelli for a move to the factory Honda team. I think they'd have made him a champion very quickly.

[rac3r]

Honda have said there will not be an all Spanish factory team and Dorna have said Rookies are not allowed to move straight to a factory team (rules out Marquez)
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[Mikey3]

[neatbik]

What if Rossi went back to Honda and couldn't make it work..?

In a way it would be a risky move..

[Mikey3]

[robbieguy2003]

I think if anything, Rossi will use it as a bartering point with Ducati to get more money pumped into Dev and get updates quicker, if that is
possible.

I think he'll be saying I want a race winning bike by the end of the year, certainly showing in the last 4-6 races that It can fight for the win, they'll then give them a decent base to build on for next year. So far, they've never went into a season with a decent base.

Marquez is out at Repsol, he's not allowed a factory ride for a rookie, it's annoying Honda, but they we're quite responsible in making that Rule after making noise about Lorenzo going straight to a Factory Yamaha, they made their bed with this one.

Marquez will be in LCR or Gresini, again because next year the Factories are meant to be only running 4 bikes each.

As it stands, there is a top Repsol seat going and if Spies doesn't pick up then a top Yamaha seat will also be going.

I think Pedrosa will be resigned, without Stoner, he's without doubt their top rider, and arguably capable of taking it to Lorenzo.

They've said they wont have two spanish riders in the team, so I doubt they'll go after Lorenzo as well if they sign Dani.

Honda have said they'd consider Rossi but it'd need to be cleared with the big bosses in Japan first.

Short and long of it, two riders will be looking to progress to Factory Teams, as I see it, the best placed are;

Cal - He's showing signs of quality every weekend, he's upped his training, he's upped his game and he's starting to show he can cope with the pressure of this. If Spies is out of Yamaha, then I think Cal will be the man to take his place. Short of Dovi winning races week in, week out, the ride will be given to Cal, Dovi has had a factory Honda when it was the best on the grid and struggled to get to the front. Basically it shown he was a long way off Casey and Dani and struggled to fight with Marco.


Barbera - More of a long shot, I don't think he's bad, but everyone knows the Duke is a dog, and he's not doing so bad. The only 'if' is if he's only ever any good following people. If that's the case, it's pointless and he wont get ride. If so, I could, if he get's it right, Bradl/Bautista getting a ride, if only to make way for Marquez on a Satellite Honda.

As for the 'vacant' tech 3 slot, that'll be filled by Bradley, he's already in Contract, but it's unknown if Tech 3 are going to continue with their Moto2 Chassis, if they ditch that and make a CRT effort to run along the two Yamahas, so three bikes, Bradley may start on the CRT. If that's the case, i'm unsure who'd fill the slot, I'd like to see what Petrucci could do on a proper bike, I think he'd be quite quick, but I guess it depends how silly season pans out.
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