MotoGP

Marquez and Honda Searching for Solutions

1 Mins read

Marc Marquez is expecting a busy week as he and Repsol Honda try out several engine specifications in an attempt to improve the 2016 RC213V at Sepang. The team suffered with an aggressive engine which unsettled the motorcycle in 2015 and are searching for a solution to the problem in time for Qatar on March 20.

Marquez was seventh fastest on the opening day in Malaysia, 1.5 seconds down on world champion Jorge Lorenzo, but hopes the short term pain will bring long term rewards.

“After going the entire winter without getting on my bike, today we began the first preseason test of 2016. We still have a lot of work to do, as we have new electronics, a new engine and a few different engine specs to what we used in Valencia and Jerez back in November. In terms of setup, we made very few adjustments, because we were focused on the electronics and adapting it to my riding style. It’s true that neither my place on the timesheet or lap time today are great, but this is going to be a long preseason in which we will have to work hard on many different things. We’ll see if we can improve tomorrow.”

Teammate Dani Pedrosa was third fastest behind the two Movistar Yamahas and acknowledges there is plenty of work to do to close the gap.

“Today we had to work very hard on several things. The positive part is that Honda know this and are working on things in Japan. Using my experience I am giving my all to try to provide them with as much information as possible, and advance in every area possible. We shall see if we can finish the test with a better feeling than when we started. We also have to continue testing the Michelins and putting in more kilometers with them. They have made some positive changes, although we still need to work more to improve the feeling. We will continue working and evolving throughout this test. We saw Jorge (Lorenzo) go very fast on Day 1, so we are going to continue improving gradually.”

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