At the historic LeMans circuit in France, Repsol Honda riders Mark Marquez and Dani Pedrosa had a character building event. Marquez eventually placed fourth despite starting in pole position and Pedrosa showed considerable courage to finish the event following a crash, considering his recent surgery.

A little bit further south in Europe meanwhile, team Honda – RedMoto – Zanardo had a lot to celebrate at the GP of Portugal. Alex Salvini won the E2 class of the FIM Enduro World Championship qualifier on the first day of competition and was again placed on the podium on the Sunday. He was the fastest rider on four tests on day one, improving to 5 on day two, in the CRF 450R Enduro.

The Castrol Honda team returned to the podium on the latest round of the World Touring Car Championship at the Nurburgring. Tiago Monteiro equalled his season best finish with second place in Germany. Gabriele Tarquini also finished in the points.