Reigning MotoGP champion Marc Marquez says Honda was “obsessed” with gaining more straightline speed in the off-season, in order to outdo rivals such as Ducati.
In the Qatar Grand Prix season opener, Marquez reached a top speed of 218.7mph – narrowly surpassing the track record established by Ducati rider Andrea Iannone in 2016.
In addition, three of the five fastest bikes in terms of top speed at the Losail circuit were Hondas, with Cal Crutchlow and Jorge Lorenzo joining Marquez on that list. The remaining two were the Ducati of Jack Miller and the Suzuki of Joan Mir.
Marquez said he would prefer to have to deal with any side effects of the increase in power than battle against a top-speed deficit, as in previous years.
“This winter, in Honda, they were obsessed with top speed,” said Marquez.
“When they see other bikes being faster than ours, they do not tolerate it.
“When you have a powerful engine, there are mechanics and tools to deal with [it].”
Qatar race winner Andrea Dovizioso was not even among the top 10 in terms of top speed on his Ducati, with his best of 215.2mph putting him 11th on the list.
Ducati sporting director Paolo Ciabatti said one of the reasons why Ducati had fallen behind in the top speed stakes was related to revised aerodynamic rules no longer allowing it to run a version of its fairing without winglets.
Ciabatti told Autosport: “Last year, Dovizioso raced in Qatar without winglets and that allows you to get higher maximum speeds.
“However, with new regulations we had to homologate a fairing with winglets, and you can’t remove them in some specific circuits.
“That fact has meant that the maximum speed of our bike has decreased.”