Repsol Honda duo top the time sheets on final day of Valencia test

Marquez on 2018 Honda
Marquez on 2018 Honda

The Repsol Honda Team’s long Valencia stint, comprising a very successful final race weekend of the 2017 Championship and two productive days of testing, has finally come to an end.

Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa took advantage of another sunny day to continue their work in preparation for 2018. As was the case yesterday, they started on the current machine before switching over to the new one also.

Both riders carried out setup testing of the engine, chassis and electronics, and were able to accumulate useful information for the development of the bike. They also tried a rear Michelin tire with a slightly different compound.

Marc completed a total of 61 laps and finished up with the day’s best time at 1’30.033" with Dani turning 51 laps and finishing in second place at 1’30.436".

This was the final test of the year for the Repsol Honda Team. The next time Marc and Dani will be on track will be in Malaysia at the end of January.

Marc Marquez
“Today we collected a lot of information, and now it will be very important to prepare well for the next time we’ll be on track, which will be the Malaysia test at the end of January. Anyway, today was a good day, very positive. We tried many things and had a good pace, so I’m happy with how it went. We had a few issues to sort out with the new bike, and of course it has some positives and negatives, but that’s completely normal for a test when you put a completely new engine and machine on the track. We also tried a lot of things on our current bike, which worked very well, and we were able to gather a lot of useful data. That said, we’ll need to try everything again at the next test. Valencia is a particular track, a small circuit, and today’s conditions were very good, so we’ll need to re-confirm everything at another circuit."

Dani Pedrosa
Dani Pedrosa

Dani Pedrosa
“Today we started the test by checking the track with my race bike, and then we immediately moved on to the new bike to analyze the setup changes we made yesterday afternoon. We basically tested a different setup with electronics, suspension and geometry, looking to better understand how the new bike behaves. We’re not just considering performance but also trying to understand what the bike does on the tires and on this track, and discovering what the positive and weak points are. We also tried a new swingarm and a new Michelin rear tire that has a different compound on one side. So it was a lot of work, with many different things to understand and set up. We made a lot of progress, but of course we’re not there yet with all the settings. All in all it was a very important session, and we collected a lot of info to work with during the break."

Results Session

Pos.

Rider

Num

Nation

Team

Constructor

Time/Gap

1

Marquez Marc

93

SPA

Repsol Honda Team

Honda

1'30.033

2

Pedrosa Dani

26

SPA

Repsol Honda Team

Honda

1'30.436

3

Zarco Johann

5

FRA

Monster Yamaha Tech 3

Yamaha

1'30.439

4

Lorenzo Jorge

99

SPA

Ducati Team

Ducati

1'30.534

5

Vinales Maverick

25

SPA

Movistar Yamaha MotoGP

Yamaha

1'30.640

6

Crutchlow Cal

35

GBR

LCR Honda

Honda

1'30.654

7

Rossi Valentino

46

ITA

Movistar Yamaha MotoGP

Yamaha

1'30.724

8

Miller Jack

43

AUS

Octo Pramac Racing

Ducati

1'30.860

9

Iannone Andrea

29

ITA

Team Suzuki Ecstar

Suzuki

1'30.877

10

Espargaro Aleix

41

SPA

Aprilia Racing Team Gresini

Aprilia

1'30.889

11

Espargaro Pol

44

SPA

Red Bull KTM Factory Racing

KTM

1'31.100

12

Smith Bradley

38

GBR

Red Bull KTM Factory Racing

KTM

1'31.202

13

Rabat Tito

53

SPA

Reale Avintia Racing

Ducati

1'31.386

14

Rins Alex

42

SPA

Team Suzuki Ecstar

Suzuki

1'31.516

15

Dovizioso Andrea

4

ITA

Ducati Team

Ducati

1'31.758

16

Morbidelli Franco

21

ITA

EG 0,0 Marc VDS

Honda

1'31.786

17

Nakagami Takaaki

30

JPN

LCR Honda

Honda

1'31.867

18

Petrucci Danilo

9

ITA

Octo Pramac Racing

Ducati

1'31.874

19

Redding Scott

45

GBR

Aprilia Racing Team Gresini

Aprilia

1'32.358

20

Simeon Xavier

10

BEL

Reale Avintia Racing

Ducati

1'32.698

21

Takahashi Takumi

72

JPN

EG 0,0 Marc VDS

Honda

1'33.870

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