MotoGP – The rebirth of the Roman Emperor –

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The rebirth of the Roman emperor

MotoGP - The rebirth of the Roman Emperor -

It’s official: Biaggi will be pilot at Repsol this year. It is in a team largely revamped and supported by Honda that the Italian will try to snatch his title from Rossi … Veni Vidi Biaggi ?

Italian driver Max Biaggi, known as the Roman Emperor, is now officially part of Team Repsol Honda, the official HRC team, alongside young American Nicky Hayden.

This is not a surprise, and rumors have been rife since his departure from Camel Pramac, but the confirmation is accompanied by speeches which in no way hide Honda’s main objective this year: to recover the world driver’s title that Rossi delighted them in 2004 !

For his part, Emperor Max is full of praise: "Riding an official Honda is every rider’s dream and I have always wanted to be an HRC rider. Honda is giving me the best way to express my potential and my skills today. My pilot’s life is restarting today !"Since his lackluster return to Honda in 2003, the Italian rider has finally relished his accession to the ‘ultimate’ handlebars. But one can’t help remembering the same Italian saying a year ago:"after finishing 2nd or 3rd for several seasons this year must be mine. I hope Honda will continue to support me as it did during the pre-season testing and I want to start winning races from the start of the Championship "(read). So what can we think about it today ?

Because Biaggi is not at his first attempt: in 1998, he proved formidable in his Honda prepared by Kanemoto himself, climbing to a promising second place in the world rankings. He is still the only driver to have won his very first race in the premier class. It was April 5, 1998 in front of a certain Doohan…

In 1999, he decided to change his mount and then considered that only an official team could allow him to win the championship. But removed from the HRC (the Honda Repsol team), he prefers to join the official Yamaha team. A decision that proved unsuccessful as he finished fourth in the championship behind Criville, Roberts Jr and Okada. But this ranking has the merit of confirming his statements: the official teams, and all the more so that of Honda, are indeed the absolute weapons when it comes to winning the title. !

The 2000 season did not allow him to reach the top either: he finished third, behind Kenny Roberts Jr and a newcomer named … Valentino Rossi! This one, failing to be part of the official team, benefits from the services of Jeremy Burgess (the chief engineer of Doohan, then withdrawn from the competition, who will follow him later during his courageous transfer to Yamaha), and of the growing attention of the HRC thanks to its results. Biaggi then finds the performance of his Yam well below those available to his opponents….

In 2001, the YZR still suffered from a glaring lack of power against the NSR, despite the best efforts of the driver and his team. However, the Emperor managed to win the title of vice world champion at the end of a season that saw three Italians take the podiums: Rossi and Capirossi on Honda, Biaggi on Yam. The historic evolution of the premier class gives hope for better days !

The 2002 season thus saw the highly anticipated arrival of the four-stroke. The M1 – "Mission One"- was an ambitious project at the time: to obtain first place in the championship. Unfortunately for Max, this year will still not be his and the Honda-Rossi duo won the three titles at stake (driver, manufacturer and team). Le Romain , despite eight podiums and two victories, remains in second place in the general classification and retains its favorite race number: 3.

2003 marked a turning point in Biaggi’s career as he decided to return to Honda, rightly considering that only the RCV could allow him to beat Dottore in the long run. The latter, who has stifled the championship for two years now, still enjoys the status of No. 1 driver at Honda, which seems to serve his compatriot Max. Indeed, Biaggi does not benefit from the latest HRC plays and does not hesitate to remind anyone who wants to hear it: "it’s a correct result, but now I really want to win. I had a good start and did my best to stay ahead but Rossi has arrived and I don’t have a factory bike"he declares about his third place at the Italian GP (read). He finished third behind Rossi and Gibernau, whose tragic disappearance of Kato at the start of the season seems to have increased tenfold talent, efficiency and regularity he needed most.

In 2004, a pivotal year in the world of motorcycle Grand Prix, we witness the divorce of the Rossi-Honda couple. This is the chance or never for Biaggi to finally realize his dream and Valentino himself admits that: "Gibernau and Biaggi are in my eyes a cut above because of their experience and their bike "(read). But the key elements of the HRC, Burgess in the lead, also decided to embark on the Yamaha adventure alongside Rossi. The consequences were not long in coming and from the first race in South Africa, Rossi wins in front of Biaggi … The gap is small, certainly, but only position counts. It is then the pattern of 2003 which recurs: Max signs nine podiums and a victory in Brno, which only allows him to keep number 3.

Will 2005 finally be the year that smiles for Biaggi? This is indeed Honda’s goal and it seems that everything has been planned for, starting with his appointment as the No.1 driver. Not only will he benefit from all the latest evolutions of the RCV, but these will be made in priority according to his own needs. And as Fiorani, sporting director of the HRC, emphasizes, the efforts of everyone (teams and drivers) must benefit a specific driver.

Like Rossi at Yamaha, the Honda will first and foremost have to meet the Emperor’s expectations so that he can erase Honda’s disappointment in 2004 … And just not to spoil anything, we are talking about the arrival of ‘Erv Kanemoto as Technical Director…

Business to follow from the first tests of the year, this Sunday January 23 in Sepang … Another thrilling season in perspective !

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