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FEATURE<br />
Fifteen-odd minutes with<br />
Marc Marquez’s Repsol<br />
Honda Crew Chief Santi<br />
Hernandez is a privilege but<br />
nowhere near enough time<br />
to unravel some deep insight<br />
about the marvel hero of MotoGP.<br />
It is tempting to quiz the<br />
friendly bearded technician<br />
about the incessant plight to<br />
refine the RCV racebike to<br />
permit the world champion<br />
to perform his acrobatics, the<br />
continual reparation of the 93<br />
machine with Marquez’s hefty<br />
crash tally or concern over<br />
how much more punishment<br />
the Catalan’s body can take<br />
after a winter dominated by<br />
injury recovery.<br />
Instead we want to ask more<br />
about Hernandez and his<br />
roots in the sport and how his<br />
story has become intertwined<br />
with his 26 year old racer’s,<br />
now that they have only<br />
missed a title twice in the<br />
nine years they have worked<br />
together.<br />
Hernandez is one of the key<br />
figures in a consistent crew<br />
of eight people for Marquez.<br />
There are also four mechanics,<br />
a Chief Mechanic, Electronics<br />
engineer and Data engineer.<br />
Half of the group are based in<br />
Barcelona, others from German,<br />
Italy and Japan. Marquez<br />
himself does not have a big<br />
entourage: just his father Julià,<br />
trainer/coach Jose Luis and<br />
manager Emilio Alzamora.<br />
Hernandez conducts most<br />
from the hot seat next to Marquez<br />
in the #93 pitbox.
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