Honda unlikely to retain Dovizioso and Simoncelli as it reduces budget
Honda racing boss Shuhei Nakamoto says it is unlikely the works team will have three riders next year, suggesting Andrea Dovizioso and even Marco Simoncelli will lose their official support
Honda decided to run a third works bike this year, after Casey Stoner joined Dani Pedrosa and Dovizioso in the team.
Simoncelli currently races for the satellite Gresini squad, but he uses the same bike as the works riders.
Nakamoto says Honda's budget will be reduced from next year and, as things stand now, he believes only Stoner and Pedrosa will remain on board in 2012.
"These are hard times, the economic crisis is far from over," Nakamoto was quoted as saying by Motosprint magazine.
"On top of that, Japan has some big problems due to the disasters that happened last spring. All our industrial sector has had to slow down production by 30 per cent, and Honda is not immune from that. So we had to cut costs too.
"If I was forced to make an announcement today with regards to our 2012 riders, I could only talk about the works team because Stoner and Pedrosa are the only ones with a contract for next season. So I would have to say goodbye to both Simoncelli and Dovizioso.
"I've asked both to wait and be patient: we are trying to solve the situation, which is fundamentally tied to a matter of money. The budget will be cut, but I don't yet know by how much. By mid-August everything should be clearer."
Motosprint reports that it is likely there will be just four 1,000cc Hondas in 2012: two for the works team, and two for the satellite riders.
Currently the Japanese manufacturer fields six bikes.
Valentino Rossi now unsure about ditching Ducati GP11.1 for US GP
American Bostrom secures LCR ride for Laguna Seca event
Castroneves: “Too early” to think about potential replacement by Blomqvist
Four-time Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves says it’s too soon to consider Meyer Shank Racing might want to swap him to the IMSA squad and bring Tom Blomqvist over to IndyCar.
Why some DTM teams take out crash insurance but others gamble
The 2022 DTM season featured several major pile-ups and accidents, costing teams several hundred thousands in repair costs. While some had insured cars against such damage, others weren’t so well prepared…
Ricciardo: Australian GP buzz will tell me a lot about F1 comeback
Red Bull third driver Daniel Ricciardo says attending his home grand prix in Melbourne will likely tell him whether he wants to make a full-time comeback to Formula 1 or not.
Kirkwood admits he overdrove as an IndyCar rookie
Kyle Kirkwood admits he was overdriving at AJ Foyt Racing in 2022 and is expecting to rebuild his reputation at Andretti Autosport.
The other Suzuki signing that could transform Honda's MotoGP form
Following Suzuki's decision to quit MotoGP, both of its former riders have landed at Honda for 2023. But perhaps its biggest signing from the now-defunct team could instead be a highly-rated technical manager. Is Ken Kawauchi the right man at the right time to steer HRC back to glory?
How the MotoGP paddock has offered refuge to Suzuki's former team
Suzuki's unexpected departure left more than 40 professionals virtually jobless for the 2023 MotoGP season. But that human drama has been successfully corrected by the paddock itself, with most former Suzuki crew-members absorbed into other operations
How one MotoGP team went from title fights to losing it all in four years
The Petronas Sepang Racing Team came into MotoGP with a bang in 2019 as regular front-runners, with wonder rookie Fabio Quartararo mounting a title challenge in 2020. But it all went wrong for the Razlan Razali-helmed squad as the team changed hands and tumbled down the order - and RNF Racing plans to right this in 2023
Is MotoGP's comeback king ready to reclaim his throne?
Marc Marquez’s sixth premier MotoGP title seems a long time ago given the injury woes he has faced in the three years since. At the end of a fraught 2022, in which he had a fourth major operation on his right arm, the Spaniard speaks exclusively to Autosport
How MotoGP’s underachiever is working to reverse its fortunes in 2023
As European manufacturers emerged as the strongest force in 2022 in a changing of the guard for MotoGP, one powerhouse couldn’t quite match the feats of Ducati and Aprilia. Its motorsport chief tells Autosport why this is and what it is doing to become a consistent frontrunner in the class of kings
How MotoGP riders are preparing for the physical stress of sprint races
With the expansion of the calendar to 21 grands prix and the introduction of sprint races, the 2023 MotoGP season will take the riders to almost 1,300 kilometres of competition more than this year, a factor that forces adjustments in their physical preparations.
The Ducati rider who is much more than just the brother of a MotoGP legend
Surname pressure is something many have had to deal with in their motorsport careers. And while Luca Marini doesn’t have that, his familial relation and the team he rides for in MotoGP have cast a brighter spotlight on his progress. But, as he has shown in 2022 – and as he reveals to Autosport – Marini is so much more than just the brother of a legend
Ranking the top 10 riders of MotoGP 2022
The 2022 MotoGP season was another hotly contested championship, with Francesco Bagnaia emerging as the title winner after the campaign went to the wire. Autosport picks out the 10 best performers of the season
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.