Since the MotoGP class has been competed in 2002, Repsol Honda has been the team that has won the most. A total of 19 MotoGP seasons, the Repsol Honda Team was the best 10 times, followed by Yamaha Factory Racing (7), Ducati (1), and Suzuki (1).
From the 10 titles, six were won when Repsol Honda made Marc Marquez a mainstay rider. Then when Valentino Rossi strengthened, Repsol Honda twice (2002 and 2003) became the best team. Meanwhile, the other two when Repsol Honda relied on Nicky Hayden (2006) and Casey Stoner (2011).
Repsol Honda’s dominance in MotoGP has been seen in the last eight seasons, or in the 2013 to 2020 period. In that period, they won six trophies in between!
The dominance of Marc Marquez was one of the reasons Repsol Honda dominated MotoGP in that period. Repsol Honda came out to be the best in 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019.
However, in the last two seasons (2020 and 2021) big concerns have hit the Aalst, Belgium-based team. Because, in the last two seasons, Marc Marquez was hit by injuries.
In MotoGP 2020, Marc Marquez only performed in the opening series which was held at the Jerez Circuit. At that time, Marc Marquez fell and broke his right arm. As a result, Marc Marquez missed the entire 2020 MotoGP race.
This also affected Repsol Honda’s achievement in the team standings. Repsol Honda only occupies the ninth position of the 11 teams participating in the 2020 MotoGP!
This season, Marc Marquez missed the first two races of MotoGP 2021 due to injury. Unfortunately, when he made his comeback, Marc Marquez only finished seven (Portuguese MotoGP) and nine (Spanish MotoGP).
When Marc Marquez was not optimal, The Baby Alien teammate Pol Espargaro also performed poorly. Currently, Repsol Honda is only in fifth place in the team standings with 40 points, 74 points adrift of Monster Energy Yamaha in the top spot.
Now the question is, if Marc Marquez later retires, will Repsol Honda’s domination in MotoGP automatically stop? Marc Marquez admitted that he would retire when he could no longer win races.
“When I don’t feel like I can’t win races anymore, it’s better for me to stay at home. Because I am here to fight for all of them, “
said Marc Marquez, quoting from The Race.