Marc Marquez immediately got back into the swing of things on the first test day of 2014, going fastest at Sepang. The world champion’s initial aim was to familiarise himself with his 2013 Honda RC213V once again before switching to the 2014 machine later in the day and is looking forward to making further progress tomorrow.
“I’m happy with how this first day went and to have achieved my goal of regaining my feeling on the bike. Of course, at the start I was a little stiff, but gradually I was able to pick up the pace. Today I tested the new rear tyre from Bridgestone and it felt similar to last year. Tomorrow we will continue with our plan: testing out the setup and beginning to draw conclusions from our findings. We put in a lot of laps today and I’m sure that tomorrow I will feel it; even though we train in the gym over the winter, here you work your muscles in a different way”.
Repsol Honda teammate Dani Pedrosa was third fastest and was riding for the first time since having a plate and thirteen screws removed from his right collarbone in November. After completing 75 laps on Tuesday, the Spaniard was happy with his physical condition.
“It was a very long, hard day. We put in a lot of laps and despite us being fresh as it’s the first day, I’m sure that tomorrow I’ll be feeling it! It was fun, as I had not been on the bike for a long time and was curious to see how I would feel after my operation last year. In general things went well and we focused on trying out the rear brakes, clutch and engine mapping today. Tomorrow we will work on the chassis and the new tyres. The bike seems very similar to last year’s model; we still need more time to work on things, but it appears as if there are no huge differences required in terms of riding style”.
