Marcus Pereira de Freitas knows the value of a team effort, and it isn’t hard to see why Tim Gajser scored so many world titles and GP victories under the Honda awning. Now, with another five-time world champion (Jeffrey Herlings) in the colours of Honda, the team manager has some exciting times ahead.
One of the friendly and nice guys in the paddock Pereira de Freitas was kind enough to return our call and give us some inside information on the last couple of weeks, in what is one of the biggest stories in GP history.
We saw the press release and the videos of Jeffrey riding. It all looks so exciting, but to actually be involved, in all these tests and riding days with Jeffrey, how was that from the inside?
Marcus Pereira de Freitas: You know Geoff, it is absolutely amazing. Everyone in the team, the technical side here in Europe, everyone from Japan were maybe expecting it to be a little awkward and maybe a bit weird. Jeffrey knows what he wants and it was actually easy, really easy. He is so professional, but his personality, we never saw, because we only saw him in the races (as an opposition rider) and to work with him, it is just very, very special. It couldn’t have gone any smoother than it did.
Obviously, he says he has the bike sorted, which is just incredible, after 17 years on a KTM, then moving to the Honda. I think everyone expected that to be a much more difficult transition. Honda is probably considered the best bike in the sport, and I have always looked at your team as the most professional, and best run team in the paddock. Giacomo has really done an amazing job in making everything look as good as possible and just the vibe in the team is special. When you get Jeffrey Herlings and HRC you can only expect huge success, but how are you feeling with the season just a little less than two months away?
Marcus Pereira de Freitas: Obviously, the hopes are very high. Having Jeffrey onboard, the best rider in the world, coming to HRC, we are honoured to have him. With the short time with him, the whole crew spent three days, 12-hour days to make him feel comfortable and give him a bike he can work with. He was really happy with what he saw in those three days and all the Japanese technical guys and how they worked. He was impressed and maybe saw anything like this in the past. To hear his comments on the bike and how easy it was to handle and turn and how good the power was and how it was delivered. It was just amazing.
We saw the Honda production bike in the sand, and it looked slow, but he mentioned when he got on the HRC machine, it was a big difference. Can you give me any idea how much better the HRC factory bike is and why it’s so much better?
Marcus Pereira de Freitas: Well, obviously, having the production bike first time in the sand, it was tough conditions and he had little time to adjust and it was his first day on sand, and its hard to compare the production to the factory bike, because of all the specifications, the gearing, the engine, power delivery, so its hard to compare, but it was good to have him on the factory bike at the end of the day.
Having seen how Jorge (Prado) dealt with the move to a Japanese bike in America, you must have been nervous before Jeffrey rode the Honda, because obviously, for Jorge, the move was really not an easy one?
Marcus Pereira de Freitas: Yes, absolutely, and I think nobody knew what to expect. Everyone was a little nervous for his first comment when he came in from his first ride on the bike. We were all curious and we know our potential and the potential of the bike; with Jeffrey there was a question mark on the same bike for so long. At the end of the day, I spoke with Giacomo and I said to him, I couldn’t believe how happy Jeffrey was with the bike, more or less, straight away. He said, this is the bike. We were so pleased to hear that. It was an honour to hear those types of comments from somebody like Jeffrey Herlings, after only three days on the bike.
He will race Mantova first, then Hawkstone Park, then Lierop. I would imagine for that first race, you come in big with the complete HRC GP set-up. Is that the case?
Marcus Pereira de Freitas: Yes, we will have the full MXGP set-up for Mantova. All four riders will be in Mantova, we want their first experience for all four riders to see how it works for them at the GP. For Hawkstone it will just be Jeffrey and Tom, so we will just have the van there and Lierop will be similar. Ruben will be doing a Spanish championship round, so that splits the team up, for Mantova we will be in complete MXGP version of our set-up.
As far as expectations, he is a five time world champion, maybe at the back end of his career, he still won three of the last five GPs and finished second in the other two, so while he might not be the same rider as in 2018 or 2021, he is still fast enough to be world champion again. I assume that is the only goal.
Marcus Pereira de Freitas: Yes, absolutely and that is always our goal with all the riders on the line. Like you said, Jeffrey is healthy and he finished the season on a high note. He is training hard as always and putting all the efforts in for Argentina and our goal is him to win the championship.
Tom is obviously also in the team. He is a small guy, but I wonder how he is going on the 450.
Marcus Pereira de Freitas: Actually, with Tom, he is a cool guy to work with, and the transition has been easy. He still has to learn the bike and team, and he will learn more in the races, but he might surprise a lot of people. He is a good starter and that is 90% of the race and I believe he will be a podium guy for sure.
Photo credit: Honda HRC
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