Today’s one-day post-race test in Brno officially started at 10:00 a.m. and was soon interrupted for two hours by a red flag in order to clean up some oil (left by trucks working overnight to remove some advertising banners). Around 1:30 p.m. the riders sporadically began taking to the track.
Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa got into action around 2:40, when track conditions improved enough to lap at a good pace, and ended when the track closed at 6:30. They tested a number of settings and electronic solutions and a new swingarm. Marc also tried two new Michelin front tyres that the French manufacturer asked the riders to test for 2017.
Marc had the third-fastest time of the day at 1’56.148 on lap 39 of 46. Dani finished the day seventh with a time of 1’56.857 on lap 29 of 43.
Marc Marquez >> Audio
3rd, 1:56.148 sec, 46 laps, 249 km.
“The track was quite dirty at the start of the day, but as everyone went out it got cleaned up and the grip increased. We tested a lot of things, including some new front tyres. We focused our work on trying to understand why the bike is lifting into a wheelie coming out of the corners, and we gathered some positive data and some less positive, as often happens in these cases. We found out quite a lot of things about the setup, trying to absorb some of the wheelie and improve our acceleration. We also had a new swingarm, which may have potential at some circuits, so we’ll keep it ready but for now we’ll continue with the one we’ve used so far this season. All in all I think this test has been good and now we look forward to the Silverstone GP.”
Dani Pedrosa >> Audio
7th, 1:56.857 sec, 43 laps, 232 km.
“We went out late today, as the track conditions weren’t good and we wouldn’t have understood if the work we did was good or not. Finally, we were able to start and we focused our work on trying to clarify the direction we want to follow for the setup in the coming races. Basically we tried to regroup and to find some new ideas to regain some confidence. We also tried a new swingarm and now we’ll analyse everything in order to build upon what we have understood. We didn’t test the new Michelin front tyres as our priorities at this moment were different, but we’ll definitely try them in the next test.”
