Honda MotoGP technical manager Takeo Yokoyama believes HRC will be able to “adapt” the RC213V to accommodate the incoming Jorge Lorenzo.
Lorenzo struggled to adapt to the Ducati when he switched to the Italian bike last season following nine years at Yamaha, but an update to the fuel tank for Mugello has allowed the Spaniard to exploit his riding style more and has since won three races – including last weekend's Austrian Grand Prix.
With the RC213V a notoriously difficult bike to handle, concerns have been raised that Lorenzo's switch to Honda next year could result in a similar situation to the first 23 races of his Ducati career.
However, speaking in a press conference during the Brno weekend, Yokoyama-san expressed his confidence Honda can build a “very good bike” for the triple MotoGP world champion.
“Of course we are aware of Lorenzo's riding style, it's quite different to what Marc [Marquez] is doing.” he said.
“We are aware of this, but of course until he tries our bike, our package, which is not doing so bad, we will never know exactly what we should do.
“But I'm pretty confident that has a company, as Honda, as HRC, that we can adapt to any riding style.
“Lorenzo is clearly a strong champion, and I'm sure that he can give us good feedback, and based on the feedback I'm confident we can make a very good bike for him.
“How different a bike we will have to make for him, I cannot say until he starts riding our bike.”
Only Marquez has been able to consistently fight for the the title on a Honda in the 1000cc era, but Yokoyama-san believes, so long as HRC can adapt the bike to him, Lorenzo can also add his name to the list of Honda world champions.
“Jorge was available for next year's contract, that's why we took this opportunity [to sign him],” he added.
“He's a champion, he will be strong. If we can make a good package for him, because he is fast already, we will make the bike, we do have the bike bike [capable of winning] and we can adapt a bit to him in the maximum level – and we have a good team – I'm sure we can fight for the title with Jorge also."
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