MotoGP Misano Test Day 2 – 2016 Honda RC213V Debuts

The second day of the Misano test took place under punishing heat, with temperatures rising to 37° and track temperatures of over 60°C. Despite the heat, times continued to drop as Suzuki, Honda, and Ducati all worked further on improving their race setups.

At Honda, both Dani Pedrosa and Marc Marquez tried the 2016 Honda RC213V, giving the bike its first run out ahead of next year. The aim of the test was to check the direction that development of the bike was taking. That, Marc Marquez said, was the wrong direction, but that is in itself useful information.

Marquez also worked on a setting at the front end of the bike, which improved his feeling. The problems with braking remain, but are much improved.

Marquez also crashed towards the end of the day, but it was a relatively harmless crash, which happened because he was pushing just a little too hard on exceptionally hot tarmac.

For Dani Pedrosa, the work concentrated once again on finding a base setup, and a direction to pursue for the rest of the season. That had been a success, Pedrosa judged.

At Ducati, the two Andreas were also working on figuring out a base setup. Andrea Dovizioso was sanguine about the work of the past two days, saying they had not made huge progress, but had gathered a lot of data. They were definitely faster than the first part of the season, but there was still much work to do.

Corner entry is the area which still needs work, according to Dovizioso. Teammate Andrea Iannone had his test cut short. The Italian was suffering with severe pain in the shoulder, the result of an earlier testing crash at Mugello back in May.

Iannone will require surgery to fix the problem at the end of the year, but is engaged in an ongoing battle with his doctor, who wants him to have surgery to fix the problem sooner rather than later.

At Suzuki, the work was all on set up and geometry, with both Aleix Espargaro and Andrea Dovizioso pleased with what they had achieved.

Espargaro was especially happy, having made progress with the bike to improve front grip, as well as working on traction control strategies. Both riders had improved their times, and felt their pace was much more consistent.

The teams all stay on for one more day, to test the Michelins ahead of next season. As with all Michelin tests this year, they are completely private affairs, with riders not allowed to talk to the press about them. After that, they all head off for a well-deserved rest and summer break.

Times from the Second Day of MotoGP Testing at Misano:

Photo: HRC

This article was originally published on MotoMatters, and is republished here on Asphalt & Rubber with permission by the author.