MARCUS PEREIRA DE FREITAS: A MANAGERS INSIGHT

Marcus Pereira de Freitas is the HRC General Manager and has been around the sport forever. First as a mechanic and now as a manager. Marcus Pereira de Freitas, a highly respected chief mechanic and long-time key figure at Honda and HRC, transitioned to a management role in HRC’s Motocross World Championship campaign in 2018. He continues to serve in this capacity for the 2025 season, following successful title-winning campaigns in 2019, 2020, and 2022.

Before the British Grand Prix last weekend, Marcus knew, without Tim Gajser on the start line, it was going to be a difficult weekend. One thing he did look forward to was the fact Matterley Basin remains a paddock favourite and still having belief in his team, while they struggle with injuries and a lot of bad luck.

“I think it is a venue that everyone enjoys going to,” he said. “As it is one of the best tracks with a good layout and lots of big jumps and plenty of lines. Unfortunately, Tim wasn’t here with us, after his spectacular win in the Motocross of Nations last year, but Ruben rode well also so he’s excited to get back to attack mode, after surviving Latvia. Valerio is also ready to go racing again after a rare weekend off so we were all really excited to be heading to Great Britain.”

On the Saturday, during practice and qualification, it looked like HRC would again suffer from bad luck and disappointments. Valerio Lata has a crash and couldn’t finish the MX2 qualification race. Fortunately, his 450 rider, Ruben Fernandez did show some spirit.

“We seem to be going through some bad luck as a team, with Valerio having to pullout of the qualification race due to another rider crashing right in front of him on a jump landing. He got checked out straight away as he was in a lot of pain, and although he wasn’t feeling 100%, he tried to race and see what he could do. Unfortunately, he had to pull off the track and now we’ll see how he feels when he arrives tomorrow and make a decision then. Ruben looked good all day and we believe he can do even better in the GP-scoring races, so everyone will be working super-hard to give him all the help he needs.”

Sure enough, Fernandez gave a good account of himself and gave the red army something to celebrate before the MXGP paddock went into a three-week break.

“A great ride from Ruben in that second moto really showed the quality that he has. He was under pressure the entire time and then at the end made it really close to the leader, with perhaps a couple more laps and he could have taken the lead. It is a nice boost heading into this break and I’m sure he’ll use it wisely and come out swinging in Finland. We didn’t really have any expectations for Valerio after yesterday’s incident, but it was good to see him fighting in both races and showing a strong spirit. It’s good he has a break to recover and we’re sure he’ll continue the progress he had shown before this event, when we get to Finland, which will be a new circuit for everyone.”

Now, with the break, time for his riders to recover and the team to reset their goals, HRC, like all the teams in the paddock get a nice rest and can head to the next round in Finland with extra motivation and energy as the MXGP paddock get set for the final run to the Australian Grand Prix in September.

Photo credit: Bavo Swijgers