Alberto Puig: Romano Albesiano “matches Honda philosophy” in MotoGP

Alberto Puig says HRC's incoming MotoGP technical director Romano Albesiano “matches very much to the Honda philosophy” following news of the Aprilia man’s signing on Friday.

Albesiano has been a mainstay of the Aprilia MotoGP project since the Italian marque returned to the premier class in 2015, and was a major driving force in transforming the RS-GP into a race-winning package.

On Friday at the Japanese Grand Prix, Honda announced it had signed Albesiano as technical director for 2025 just moments after Aprilia revealed the appointment of ex-KTM engineer Fabiano Sterlacchini.

Sterlacchini had been linked to Honda for several months upon leaving his role at KTM, with it thought Albesiano made the jump to HRC rather than being pushed.

This news also comes just days after Honda’s current technical director was reported as moving over to head the test team in 2025 to work with current Aprilia racer Aleix Espargaro.

“Well, it’s something that we were looking for,” Puig told the Dorna world feed on Friday about Albesiano.

“We’ve been trying to get this possibility and we believe Romano is matching very much to the Honda philosophy.

“He has a great experience in motorsport. We are very pleased and happy that he accepted. We will go from there.

“It will be a new time, a new programme, but we are all really happy inside the company.

“He will be a great, great support for our technicians and together I think they can make a really good plan. We are really excited for this.”

On the timeline of Albesiano signing for Honda, Puig added:  “Well, it’s not so easy to explain, but the important thing is that we could do and it was agreed.

“There was a good understanding with Aprilia, which was important, and it was something that we looked for.

“Fortunately it was possible to do it, so from now on we will wait for him and when he will join us. I am very excited for it.

“It’s not about who moves first or not. It’s about that next year we will have Romano. It’s not about who is faster or not.

“Honda needs this type of personality and this type of character, with his approach.”

Honda signing a big European engineer is a significant shift in approach to bike development for the Japanese brand, mimicking what rival Yamaha has done for this year in signing Max Bartolini from Ducati.

Asked about the change in Japanese mentality with the Albesiano signing, Puig noted: “Well, it’s interesting.

“It’s going to be really interesting to understand a different point of view.

“This is the main reason we wanted to do this. We have a lot of guys coming with a lot of experience, each one in his area.

“We are excited and we will welcome them in the best way possible.”