Fresh from winning the 2016 Rider and Constructor titles, the Repsol Honda Team was back on track in Valencia today for the first official test for the 2017 season.
Reigning World Champion Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa took to the track around 11:30 a.m. to begin a programme that included a prototype 2017 machine to compare with their 2016 bike. The test of the new Michelin tyres is planned for tomorrow. It was a productive first day, as the ideal conditions (air 18°C, track 22°C) allowed both riders to fully exploit the track time available to work on their RC213V setup. Marc ended the day fourth, with his time of 1’31.102 coming on lap 33 of 53. Dani was just 0.376 seconds off the top, with a 1’31.306 time on lap 32 of 42, placing him 10th for the day.
Testing continues tomorrow, with the second and final day beginning at 10 a.m. local time.
Marc Márquez >> Audio
4th, 1:31.102 sec, 53 laps, 212 km
“It has been a very long test day, because when the bikes are new, it takes a lot of time to make changes and get back out on track. We only did one stint with the bike we used in the Grand Prix, to see what condition the track was in, and then we started to work on the new bike. As a rider, it’s a bit boring because I had to wait a long time in the garage, as with being everything new, the engineers have to adjust a lot of things along the way, but finally we were able to try several solutions. Let’s see if tomorrow we can continue improving and make the most of the day.”
Dani Pedrosa >> Audio
10th, 1:31.306 sec, 42 laps, 168 km
“The first day of testing has been positive, because I was able to ride with both bikes and compare them. I have not yet tried out anything specific and instead have just been riding both of them and analysing the feeling. We had already debuted the bike before and that is also a good thing, although physically I didn’t push myself to the maximum, since I wanted to conserve strength for tomorrow and be able to do a little more specific testing then. Hopefully the weather tomorrow will also be positive, because today the track was a bit tricky at some points and we saw quite a few crashes. It has also been interesting to see the changes of riders and manufacturers, and surprising to see that they have adapted so quickly.”
