Final three days of preseason testing begins, with Alex Rins and Alex Marquez continuing to develop the Honda NSF250RW before the World Championship gets underway.
The first of three days of testing for the Repsol Moto3 riders was completed today at the Circuito de Jerez. With all the support and effort of HRC behind them in the development of their Honda Moto3 bike, Emilio Alzamora’s two protégés began an intense final test plan before the start of the season. At the end of the day, Alex Marquez finished in tenth place and Alex Rins eleventh, on a timesheet led by Romano Fenati.
After all the experiments and indications made in the busy month of February, for two weeks Honda engineers have been working on the development of the NSF250RW. Today the bike was back in the hands of Marquez and Rins, who reappeared after an operation on his right wrist. On this first day of testing, both riders focused on adapting the changes made to their bikes to the requirements of the Jerez track, where they completed nearly 300km each on Tuesday. Marquez stopped the clock with a best time of 1:47.728 –4-tenths off Fenati– and teammate Rins set a fastest lap of 1:47.789.
Testing will continue tomorrow and conclude on Thursday, closing the preseason just a week before the opening race in Qatar.
Álex Rins >> Audio
1:47:789, 65 laps, 287 km.
“The truth is we’ve taken a pretty big step forward from the last test I did in Valencia, with the old engine. We noticed a lot of improvement in performance. On the other hand, I still feel some discomfort under heavy braking, like on Turn 6 and Turn 13, but it’s normal as I am still not fully recovered. We’ll have to work a little harder with the setup of the bike, because everything is still very new and we still have to evaluate some adjustments for a base setting –which will be important for the first three or four races”.
Álex Márquez >> Audio
1:47:728, 67 laps, 296 km.
“I’m pretty happy with this first day of testing at Jerez. We have taken an important step forward, but still need further progress. I think we have much room for improvement and that’s what matters. Tomorrow we will have to finish fine-tuning some aspects we have seen today on track. We have done many experiments and, of course, some are positive than others. It is an important job ahead of us at the first races of the year. We still have a lot to test, since Honda are working hard and providing numerous alternatives. We’ll try to improve tomorrow and see if we can have a long run on the last day and get things clear for Qatar”.
