A second day of testing at Valencia was held on Wednesday, in which Rins and Marquez focused on working with electronics and improved their lap times from yesterday.
Keeping up the hard work at the Comunitat Valenciana Circuit, Alex Rins and Alex Marquez completed a second positive day of testing on Wednesday. Both focused on refining the electronic configurations of their bikes, working on engine braking and fuel injection. Despite the strong winds making it a difficult test, Emilio Alzamora’s proteges improved their performance and lap times as they improved the setup of their Honda NSF250RW machines.
After completing 54 laps ‒more than 216 kilometres‒ Alex Rins managed to cut more than a second and a half off his best time from yesterday. The 2013 World Championship runner-up stopped the clock at 1:40.231 which, at the end of a day in which he had a small afternoon crash at Turn 6, put him ninth on the timesheet. Alex Marquez also improved from yesterday, with a final time of 1:40.629.
On Thursday, the Moto3 riders will continue testing on the final day at Valencia.
Alex Rins
1:40.231, 54 laps, 216 km.
“It was a very positive day today; we have taken an important step forward from yesterday. In these first tests of the season it is mainly about putting in a lot of laps, because the Honda is quite different to the bike from last year and we still do not know it so well. In terms of the chassis, I feel more comfortable with this one than with the KTM, but I still do not know exactly how it behaves or how it responds to changes in the setup. That’s why we have to gather date on many different things during these testing days. Overall, today went pretty well –including my own riding, which has greatly improved”.
Alex Marquez
1:40.629, 59 laps, 236 km.
“This second day went well and we’ve improved from yesterday. We still have to continue working on the chassis configuration, but with each passing day I know this bike better. It’s the same for the technicians, and if tomorrow the conditions are good then we have to take that little step forward to finish off our improvement. This morning we had less wind to face than yesterday and could go faster. In the afternoon it reappeared and we could not take full advantage of the time available. At the end I was also a little tired in my arm, but there is only one day to go and we will make the most of it”.
