Honda: Releasing crash data would add fuel to fire

Honda today decided not to reveal the data from the Sepang crash that saw Marc Marquez fall following contact with Valentino Rossi.

Earlier this week the Japanese manufacturer had claimed that Marquez crashed following a kick from Rossi. In a statement HRC said that they would reveal the data to prove their claims however given the incendiary nature of the data today they have instead decided to delay revealing it.

“We called this press conference to speak about the data we have, but then we thought longer about the situation,” said Livio Suppo. “This is a very special weekend. The tension is very high and our main target now is show to everybody that we have no intention at all to create any doubt that we are doing this at this moment just to give to the Court of Arbitration another evidence or something that can influence their decisions.”

“At the moment our priority is that this weekend must be a sport weekend. There is a championship to be decided. We are not in the fight for this championship unfortunately. We have won the last three races – Dani has taken more points than any other rider since Aragon. But what we want to avoid is that anybody in the world can think that we speak now to influence the decision of the court.

“So when we will believe that this information will be less ‘sensitive’ we will show the data, but not now. I hope you understand our situation and that we are doing our best to keep the situation as calm as possible. I’m sorry we created an expectation that we don’t satisfy, but we believe that at this moment to be better not to put more fuel on the fire.”

At the same time that Suppo was speaking it was revealed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport that Rossi’s request for a stay of execution had been rejected. Suppo went to great lengths to explain that Honda were doing their best not to inflame a very sensitive issue.

“Marc is an aggressive rider, a very strong rider, but he is an honest guy. We don’t want anybody to think we are doing this to create a problem.”