Honda launches 2017 MotoGP squad

The Repsol Honda team of Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa officially unveiled its 2017 racing effort at the Jakarta International Expo, located in the center of the Indonesian capital. The media event followed the three-day official test session at the country's Sepang circuit earlier this week.

"I’ve come here to Indonesia many times already, and I know how much they love MotoGP. Still, they’re always able to make me feel even more welcome than the last time, which is amazing!" said Marquez. "It was also very interesting and pleasant visiting the factory yesterday because I love bikes and I liked very much to see how they’re 'born' and to meet the people behind all this. They were incredibly supportive and passionate. We’ll do our best to give them a reason to celebrate. We’ve started our winter tests well enough, and now we all must keep working and take more steps forward to be prepared to fight at the top again."

Pedrosa added: "I feel good and I'm really looking forward to starting the new racing year. I'm also happy we came here for our team launch. Last October I wasn't able to attend an event here due to an injury, and so many people from Indonesia showed me their support. Yesterday at the Astra Honda plant also was amazing. There were more than 2,000 people cheering and greeting us!"

Marquez and Pedrosa were joined onstage by Tetsuhiro Kuwata (HRC Director – General Manager Race Operations Management Division) and team principal Livio Suppo for the official unveiling of the RC213V that the team will race in the 2017 MotoGP World Championship. Also on stage were Astra Honda Motor executives including Toshiyuki Inuma (President Director), Johannes Loman (Senior Vice President), Morgono Tanuwijaya (Marketing Director) and Koji Sugita (Marketing Director).

"Besides unveiling our 2017 racing project in a country that counts so many passionate MotoGP followers, we had the chance to visit the Astra Honda Motor Factory," said Kuwata. "That was a very good experience, especially for Marc and Dani, who had the chance to meet with the many people who work in the production sector, and to see how well known they are here and how much support they have. We’ll keep working at 100% to continue improving our bike, to allow Marc and Dani to once again fight at the front in the next MotoGP World Championship.”