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The 2016 season saw a lot of change for the Honda World Superbike Team; former MotoGP Champion Nicky Hayden joined the team and won a race in his first season and collectively they finished in the top five overall. As Michael van der Mark made his final farewell in Qatar, Honda World Superbike Team Manager Ron Ten Kate took some time out with WorldSBK.com to assess the year that was and discuss exciting beginnings ahead.

“I think we stepped up quite a bit this year,” said Ten Kate. “We were consistently frontrunners I would say, I’m more than happy with how the season went. In terms of our progress, most people just point to the engine because they see more speed from us, but we improved on the electronics, we made quite a step forward and on the engine itself. Also the chassis saw some changes and all of that combined resulted in an overall better package for our riders.”

The Kentucky Kid and the Dutchman were never far from the podium, battling for the top positions all year. Ten Kate attributes the great results to teamwork and a mutual respect between Hayden and van der Mark. But 2017 will see a change in the lineup and the American’s old MotoGP rival will be joining the team, which Ten Kate believes will shake things up.

“Nicky and Michael have had a good relationship working together this year on the bike, making constant steps forward with the packages that we had,” exclaimed Ten Kate. “I think everyone already knows Stefan Bradl is coming to the team to pair up with Nicky Hayden, so I think that were going to have a very strong team. The new bike is also coming next year, that’s going to be a right step forward for us where we really need it, so we’re all looking forward to the new season. If we can just not only close the gap on the front guys, but if we can be winners again, I would love to see that.”

In WorldSSP, the season didn’t go as smoothly as the Dutchman had hoped. However, Ten Kate isn’t one to place blame, admitting that various factors attributed to the challenges the team faced. He looks forward to the new season with no signs of slowing down.

“It’s been a bit of a difficult season for us in WorldSSP and on a couple of occasions we made it difficult for ourselves,” explained Ten Kate. “PJ made some errors this year, he went down in a couple of rounds and that lost us a lot of points. Also from a team point of view, we haven’t always been on the sharpest end. But all in all, in the end we were still fighting until the last round for second place so we can’t be too unhappy about it, especially when you have to race against Kenan. Our plans haven’t been confirmed and as everyone knows we love the class, it’s the roots of our team. I would love to be racing with two riders again, but for the moment it looks like just one rider will fill the place.”