The 2022 Honda MotoGP bike breaks cover, looks very different…

Honda looks set to go radical in its efforts to turn around its wavering fortunes in the MotoGP World Championship with an overhaul of its bike for the 2022 season.

The new model - which may or may not retain the RC213V moniker - was rolled out on the first morning of a two-day test at Misano in the hands of development rider Stefan Bradl.

Though the finer details of the new model will be kept under wraps, the 2022 evolution of the Honda is visibly very different to the current model with a look like appears to take some inspiration from one of its other V4-engined rivals, the Aprilia RS-GP… or dare we say it, the previous generation Kawasaki ZX-10RR sportsbike.

The more sculpted front-end features a tapered windshield and a vertical airbox grip, while the wings now angle downwards, unlike the current ‘farfalle’ twisted style. 

It adheres to a fresh set of regulations for the entire MotoGP field and it can’t come soon enough for Honda, which has struggled to fine-tune RC213V since the start of 2020.

Indeed, having wrapped up a fifth straight MotoGP title with Marc Marquez in 2019, Honda - without Dani Pedrosa for the first time - went the wrong way on development, with the Spaniard struggling for pace even before the COVID-19 hiatus and then the Spaniard’s injury during the opening round.

Honda suffered a slump in form in Marquez’s absence but with regulations frozen into 2021, it hasn’t returned back to its best on the record-breaking rider’s return.

As such, it is the manufacturer with arguably the most ground to make up in 2022, hence the decision to go for an entirely new design that will no doubt be focused on making the Honda more consistent on the front-end to prevent a series of accidents involving Marquez especially.