The sun was shining on the final day of the Sepang test, and the Repsol Honda riders wasted no time in taking to the track at 10 a.m. Completing a productive day of testing that was mainly focused on the RC213V’s latest engine configuration, the chassis and the Michelin tyres, Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa improved their setup and pace. Marc today completed 85 laps (more than any other rider), and his time of 1’59.506” on lap 18 was the second-fastest (third in the combined standings), just 0.138” off the top. Dani set today’s fourth-quickest lap with his time of 1’59.578” on lap 64 of 67 (fifth in the combined standings), just under one tenth down on his teammate.
The Repsol Honda riders will now fly to Jakarta, Indonesia, for the official Team Launch on 3 February.
Marc Marquez, 2nd – 1:59.506 – 85 laps – 471 km
“I’m much happier with my position today, even if the rhythm is really more important. We did a lot of laps, aiming to do as much work as possible, and indeed we did a good job; we completed much of our work schedule, though not everything. We need to make further improvements in some areas where I’m not yet totally comfortable, but even so, I’m happy that we got better and better over the three days, which is the most important thing. Today we again worked a lot on the electronics and also on the bike setup. In the last hour I did a mini-long run of 11 laps, sacrificing the time-attack a bit, but for us it was more important to work on the pace. I’m generally very happy with how the three days went.”
Dani Pedrosa, 4th – 1:59.578 – 67 laps – 371 km
“We were lucky with the weather today. We managed to complete a full day and were able to do many laps and work a lot. Obviously it was the final of three days in very hot conditions, and one already feels a bit tired being this is the first test of the year. Anyway, I may say it was a positive enough day because we made several steps forward. We struggled a bit at the beginning, but as the day went on we were able to fix several things and get quicker. We’re still not 100% but we were a lot faster than the first day, which gives a positive general picture to this first winter test.”
