Red Bull Honda confirms Magneti Marelli switch for rest of 2018

Red Bull Honda team manager Kervin Bos has confirmed his squad will move from Cosworth to Magneti Marelli electronics for the remainder of the 2018 World Superbike championship starting this weekend in Aragon.

World Superbikes returns to Europe for round three of the 2018 campaign in Aragon and after a “productive” private test at Assen the Ten Kate Racing-run Honda squad will make the full-time switch to Magneti Marelli electronics.

During the debut year of the new Honda Fireblade CBR1000RR SP2, the team continually struggled with the set up and electronics on its new Superbike with a mooted move to Magneti Marelli trailed during winter testing.

After not feeling 100% confident with the new electronics system in time for the opening two rounds in Australia and Thailand, Red Bull Honda opted to stick with its previous Cosworth package. Having tested an updated package at Assen the team has confirmed the change to Magneti Marelli is hoped to provide a more controlled and useable power delivery system to maximise the Honda.

“We go into this round being well prepared following our performance in the first two rounds and a recent productive test at Assen,” Red Bull Honda team manager Bos said. “We have introduced a new Magneti Marelli electronics system which we will race in Aragon for the first time and will run for rest of the season, as our strong development programme for 2018 continues.

“Aragon is the first of two back-to-back races and everyone in the team is motivated to go racing again and show what we can do.

“The layout of Aragon is quite particular with fast, flowing sections, some tighter corners and hard braking zones and I'm eager to see how the CBR1000RR Fireblade SP2 performs at this impressive circuit.”

12 months ago Red Bull Honda struggled for pace at Aragon with the team’s best result being a distant ninth place produced by Stefan Bradl in race one at the Spanish circuit.

The factory-supported Honda squad has enjoyed a much stronger start to the 2018 World Superbike season with new riders Leon Camier and Jake Gagne, with Camier finishing inside the top seven in all four races in Australia and Thailand and a highlight of fourth place in race one at the Buriram circuit.

Customer team TripleM Honda and rider PJ Jacobsen have been using the Magnetti Marelli electronics and parts this season to accelerate its development plan, while the factory squad has enjoyed extensive testing with the Italian system at various European circuits.