Dani Pedrosa is confident that Repsol Honda have settled on the best set-up for their 2015 RC213V after two days of the Sepang test. Pedrosa and teammate Marc Marquez experimented with several configurations of machine on Wednesday but having decided on the best option overnight, the Spanish pair were able to focus on their preferred specification today.
Pedrosa ended the day in fourth position, just three tenths off the pace set by Jorge Lorenzo, and is pleased with his team’s current rate of progress.
“After testing the three available versions of the bike that Honda brought here yesterday, we chose which of them we would continue working with and today we used two identical versions. This allowed us to work more on the setup, trying to adapt the new bike’s suspension and electronics a little better. It has been positive, since we have been taking small steps in the right direction and from Valencia we have continued to make progress. I think we still have to improve some aspects, but we have another day in which to continue testing. Hopefully tomorrow we can put in more laps because we have been lucky these past two days; it has not rained at all and we have been able to make the most of the time available.”
Marquez had been the fastest rider of all on Wednesday but slipped to third today, with a crash at turn eight bringing his session to a disappointing end. Despite the fall, the world champion was similarly upbeat.
“Today I focused on just one bike – the one I liked most from yesterday – and put in a lot of laps. In the morning we tested setups for the bike geometry and some different suspension settings. In the afternoon we worked a lot on the electronics, which is a slower process and requires more time and more laps. We have gathered a lot of information but tomorrow we still have to keep doing more testing, after analysing the data on the computer. I am pleased because we have continued to improve and we remained fast, even when the track was warmer.”