2023-10-10 16:13:55
The departure of Marc Márquez from the Repsol Honda Team at the end of this season leaves the Tokyo manufacturer in a difficult position. The delay in the announcement of the divorce between #93 and HRC has complicated things for the Japanese when it comes to looking for a replacement for the Catalan to provide certain guarantees to a factory that has been going through a long and agonizing desert for three seasons.
With the departure of Márquez, Honda not only loses an icon and the best driver in its history; The 30-year-old rider has been the only one capable of achieving notable results with a motorcycle with which figures such as Jorge Lorenzo, Pol Espargaró and more recently Joan Mir, who, unlike Marc, has chosen to continue betting on the project, failed miserably. Honda despite the difficulties and injuries it has had to go through this last campaign.
Since Marc and Honda made their separation public, the dance of drivers to occupy the seat of the eight-time world champion has not stopped. It has been talked about Maverick Vinalesof Augusto Fernandez before GASGAS will confirm him in 2024 along with Pedro Acosta, of a possible return of Iker Lecuona to MotoGP, and names have also come out from Moto2 such as Tony Arbolino or Alonso Lópezand many even point out a possible rise of Johann Zarco from LCR Honda to the Repsol team before even starting his career in the Honda satellite team, a move that in principle has been ruled out by Lucio Cecchinello himself.
If Honda needs anything for the 2024 campaign, it is an experienced pilot who knows what it is like to work on the development of a premier class prototypeand today there are not many pilots with such a resume who, in addition, have free rein to compete under the colors of Repsol next year. One of them is Miguel Oliveiraand according to Motorsport.com, the Portuguese is today the greatest object of desire on the part of the team still managed by Alberto Puig.
Oliveira debuted in the top category in the 2019 season, first passing through the ranks of Tech 3 Racing KTM despite the fact that his contract initially guaranteed him a factory motorcycle in his first year in MotoGP. The one from Pragal raced for two seasons for Hervé Poncharal’s team, dazzling in his second year with the RC16 thanks to the two victories he achieved in the Styrian GP and in the final event in Portimao, in front of his home crowd.
His performances on the satellite RC16 earned him promotion to the Red Bull KTM Factory Team in the company of Brad Binder, a team with which he added three more victories between 2021 and 2022, figures that still maintain Miguel as the driver with the most wins over the Austrian prototype. His lack of regularity ended up taking its toll on him, and when the RNF Aprilia offered him one of their RS-GPs for 2023, the Portuguese did not hesitate to accept this challenge, always under a direct contract with Noale.
2023 is being a difficult campaign for Oliveira; In addition to adapting to his new motorcycle, The injuries have not affected the Portuguese either, victim of two incidents in Portimao and Jerez that prevented him from achieving good results in the first half of the year.
Now, with the season facing its last grand prix, Honda seems to have seriously set its sights on Oliveira to make him Joan Mir’s teammate next season; The Portuguese has a contract with Aprilia until 2024, but his agreement with the Italians includes a clause that would allow the Pragal rider to leave early as long as a MotoGP factory offers him a new contract, and this seems to be the reality.
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Perhaps the only obstacle in the signing of Miguel Oliveira for the Repsol Honda Team is found in its connection with the oil company BP; Last March, the Portuguese renewed his agreement with British Petroleum for two more years, until 2025, a contract that guarantees Miguel additional income by lending his image to BP for advertising purposes within Portugal. This agreement also includes sponsorship of the pilot school that Oliveira founded years ago in Portugal, where BP also contributes financially to seek new promises within Portuguese motorcycling.
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