Honda should be back among the winning candidates for the 2026 MotoGP season, according to Romano Albesiano, technical director of the RC213V.
The Italian engineer joined Honda from Aprilia, along with Antonio Jimenez and Alex Espargaro during the winter between 2024 and 2025.
Early on, progress under Albeciano’s stewardship was apparent from Honda. Honda won the race (although wet) at Le Mans and stood on the podium with Johann Salco and Silverstone in the opening eighth round of the season.
It is an advancement that can inspire hope to those involved in the project, and in fact, it seems to be the case with Albeciano.
“Will we fight for next year’s championship? Honestly, I don’t know,” Albeciano told Motogp.com.
“But I expect this because I’m fighting to win the race.
“We don’t want concessions. We hope we lose concessions at the end of this season. We are happy to lose them.”
The Italians also hope that Honda will make more progress with some plans for some updates later in the 2025 season.
“We have a very dense list of new things to bring at the end of the season,” he said.
“We’re seeing a rapid evolution of the bike. There’s the chassis side, the engine. There’s a lot of development going on.”
“I was surprised that most of the features were positive.”
Albeciano also spoke about his earliest day with Honda at the end of last year, suggesting that part of the process of joining a Japanese factory is a combination of Europe and Japan’s way of working.
“When I got the call from the HRC, I was very excited,” he said.
“Honda is the world’s largest motorcycle manufacturer.
“The way people get closer to work is different, and it’s a different culture.
“It’s true, I’ll bring my approach and say “the European approach” and let it be developed and tested.
“I feel that there is no revolution in this. You have to be passionate and creative. This has always been a hallmark of Honda.”
Furthermore, he was surprised by the bike. Instead, he found there were many positive points about the RC213V, which finished four times (including sprints) in the top 10 in 2024.
“To be honest, seeing last year’s results made me think the bike wasn’t good,” Albeciano said.
“However, when I first interviewed riders, I was surprised that most of the bike traits are positive, but some specific points were really negative.
“This is a condition that allows you to attack these specific points and improve the situation very quickly.
“From last year until this year, the best improvement is probably torque delivery, which makes the rider more controllable. Some developments of electronic strategies like traction control.
“We then probably changed our approach to racing weekends and shared as much information as possible.
“It’s true, we can increase our top speed a little and improve something that will help ensure that riders pass and don’t overtake them.
“I’m starting to understand how components affect vibrations.
“Braking is probably the most important area of modern MotoGP. This is an area we can still improve.”
Finally, Albeciano speaks briefly about the reign of Motogue world champion Jorge Martin, who joined Prilia Racing as Albeciano left last winter, showing his intention to leave Noorbrand at the end of the first year of his two-year contract.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, it’s a complicated theme for Albeciano, who has taken over the command of Aprilia’s racing program since Gigi Dall’igna joined Ducati at the end of 2013.
“It’s certainly going to be a very good thing for Honda when Martin comes,” Albeciano said.
“That would be bad for Aprilia. I’m really fresh from the company so please don’t comment on this.”