In recent years, the decline in competitiveness of Japanese manufacturers in MotoGP has been evident – both Honda and Yamaha. Both are trying to return to good results and investing towards that goal, in a process that is slow.
However, Marco Melandri doubts that this will happen and even foresees a MotoGP… without Japanese manufacturers. The former rider was asked by the website InSella.it if he expected Honda and Yamaha to continue to struggle. In response, he stated: ‘Yes, to tell the truth, I am convinced that in a few years there will no longer be a Japanese bike on the grid’.
Melandri justified his opinion and even anticipated that Chinese manufacturers might eventually debut: ‘Because these are eras, first there were the Italians with [Giacomo] Agostini, then they all disappeared and the Japanese arrived, and now the Europeans are coming back. Then maybe the Chinese will arrive, I don’t know. I have this feeling that they will disappear from the grid. I don’t know how they can be competitive again’.
Indeed, the Chinese manufacturer Kove entered the Supersport 300 World Championship last year, while this year QJMotor makes its debut in the Supersport World Championship. In the MotoGP paddock, CFMoto is represented as a brand in Moto3 and Moto2, although it does not manufacture the bikes, as is the case with QJMotor, which is a partner of Gresini in Moto2.