Repsol Honda ->ke291 team manager Livio Suppo has denied rumors suggesting tension between defending world champion Marc Marquez and the Repsol Honda racing team.

These rumors have yet to be substantiated but there has been some whispers around the MotoGP ->ke2192paddock are suggesting that not everything is peaches within the team right now. Marquez’s performance in the 2015 season hasn’t fallen off a cliff just yet, but everybody is of the belief that he and the team have under-performed for the majority of the season.

The team’s underwhelming performance has caused alarm bells to ring, which is why Suppo decided to douse any thought of internal dissent within the team, telling Spanish newspaper Marca that internal support for Marquez and Pedrosa for that matter has not wavered.

Instead, any perceived thoughts of the team’s struggles can be traced to its rivals actually performing better than it has in the past seasons. Yamaha->ke301, in particular, has been the class of the season with riders Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo occupying the top two spots of the championship standings. Even Ducati ->ke622has been better than expected this year, specifically Andrea Dovizioso, who currently sits in third place in the standings, just ahead of Marquez.

Suppo also admitted that Repsol Honda still has a lot of work to do to improve on its performance relative to the strengths of its competitors. That’s the biggest issue the team is dealing with right now in addition to the spate of injuries to both Marquez and Pedrosa.

But now that both riders are healthy and ready to go, there’s renewed optimism within the team that both Marquez and Pedrosa are on the precipice of mounting a challenge to the Yamaha and Ducati riders.

Hopefully, that’s the case because judging by the things Repsol Honda has dealt with this season, it doesn’t need any more distractions.

Continue reading to read more about the rumored tension between Marc Marquez and Repsol Honda.

Why it matters

Just when you thought that Repsol Honda’s early season woes were behind it, now comes word of a rumored rift between the team and its world champion rider.

Live Suppo did the right thing by pre-empting more discussions on this supposed in-fighting by addressing the issue head-on and denying it to the hilt. It’s not easy to take his word for it since it’s really his job to show that Marquez and the team are united in their shared pursuit of defending their respective championships.

But I’m giving him the benefit of the doubt for now because at this point, there have been way too many unforeseen circumstances that have caused Repsol Honda to under perform relative to its status as one of the series favorites.

I’m going to keep an eye on this issue, though, as I’m sure other people will too. Tensions between riders and teams aren’t exactly unchartered waters in the world of MotoGP. Disagreements always happen and that’s true for every team in the series, not just Honda.

How the team bounces back from all these distractions is the important thing to remember here. If Marquez and Repsol Honda continue to struggle, then all this chatter surrounding a supposed rift will only intensify. That’s the price you pay for being one of the most prominent teams in MotoGP. Every action you make is dissected ad naseum by the sports media. So if Marquez and Repsol Honda really want to put a stop to these concerning rumors, winning races will go a long way in doing just that.